


Careful what you wish for

by how_to_sit_gay



Category: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Debbie is a disaster bi, F/F, HAPPY ENDING GUARANTEED THO, by fandom law Harold Miller aka Chris Hemsworth has been deemed Lou's younger brother, canon-divergent ages, cos it's unrealistic and I throw up in my mouth everytime I watch it, doesn't mean I won't wreck some havoc in between, no beta we die like men, no the ending won't be the same, sticking somewhat close to the original While You Were Sleeping plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2020-06-03 22:11:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 35,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19473226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/how_to_sit_gay/pseuds/how_to_sit_gay
Summary: The While You Were Sleeping AU everyone was (not) waiting for.





	1. The one in which Debbie gets into trouble

**Author's Note:**

> No one:  
> Really, absolutely no one:  
> Me: Ok I'll write a While You Were Sleeping AU
> 
> This was in January, look how far I've come in 6 months... hopefully posting this will force me to write more regularly now ^_^"
> 
> Rating and tags are constantly subjected to updates, especially when it comes to the characters. I'll find a way to work all our gay criminals into this, just watch me.
> 
> Set in modern times, ages changed: Debbie, Lou & Tammy are in their mid to late 20s, just for orientation

People say time flies when you’re having fun. What people fail to mention is that time borrows a 2018 Hennessey Venom F5 and completely goes off the rails with 450 kph when you’re entirely out of your depth and don’t know what the fuck you’re doing.

She’d always been a quick thinker, but this was too much, even for her.

_Brown eyes fixed her with a look that was too innocent to be real. “Did I tell you recently that you are the best friend in the whole wide world?”_

_“No, but I’m pretty sure you’ll tell me how exactly you’ve reached this conclusion”, Debbie replied, already looking for the catch._

_“It’s cos you’ve always been there when I needed you, of course. You covered for me during summer, on Thanksgiving, Christma-”_

_Ah. There it was. “I’m not taking over Christmas for you, Tammy.”_

_“Debbie, pleeeeeeeeease! Ted’s family’s invited me around to their home in Chicago for the first time - this could be our first Christmas together - and I totally wouldn’t bother you if there was any other way, but the drive takes forever and they want us to arrive for dinner on Christmas Eve and-”_

_“My God, stop your rambling, I’ll do it.”_

_With a squeal, Tammy threw herself at her and pressed a wet kiss to her cheek. “You’re the bestest, I owe you one!”_

_“Yeah, yeah. Add it to the list.” Huffing, Debbie swatted her away, rolling her eyes for good measure._

_~~_

_Like the day before, only a few people were in the streets and even fewer stopping by to pick up a newspaper or a pack of cigarettes from her little kiosk on Christmas morning. That not only meant that business was slow for her employer, but for herself as well. She had made it a habit to practice her skills on her unsuspecting customers, relieving them of some of their valuables when they weren’t looking or handing over their cash – and she was getting better by the week. One day she would be able to make her living without working this shitty and badly paid job._

_Debbie was just about done filling out the cross word puzzle of the day’s New York Times, when **he** stood in front of the little window. He was one of the regulars, buying a newspaper and sometimes even a chocolate bar almost every day. And most likely the only person she hadn’t stolen anything from, ever._

_Glancing at her watch, Debbie smiled to herself. 8:23, always the same time, like clockwork. She could admire a punctual man. However, this wasn’t the only thing she kept admiring about him. Every time she peered out of her service window she was struck by the sheer handsomeness that was this poster picture of a man. Dirty-blond hair just long enough to tousle it, a perfectly groomed five o’clock shadow, eyes as blue as the morning sky over the ocean, broad shoulders that could and would carry the weight of the world if you’d just ask him, strong ar-_

_She was pretty sure that her infatuation kept her from taking anything more than his spare change from him. It was quite embarrassing._

_“Merry Christmas.”_

_The sound of his deep voice disoriented her for a second, but just long enough to fail to come up with a response, leaving her gaping like a fish out of water. Whining to herself, she watched him walk away. Very smooth, Ocean, very smooth._

_Anyway. It was something she could look forward to every day, it didn’t matter she didn’t know his name or that he probably forgot her face as soon as he walked away. Or that she had already planned their wedding in her head, really. There was nothing awkward about that as long as she kept her muttering about it to herself._

_Loud voices ripped her out of her daydream, the image of her wedding dress fading away slowly while the real world slipped into focus again. Rude._

_Curious what the commotion was about, she stuck her neck out of her window. With wide eyes she watched on as three guys - muggers, she presumed - pounced on her husband-to-be, ripping his wallet from him, before one slammed his fist into his face and the others tossed him to the ground._

_“Shit!” On instinct, Debbie leapt out of the kiosk, even though she had no idea what to actually do._

_Luckily for her lack of martial arts knowledge, the muggers bolted immediately after pushing him onto the street where he now was lying, apparently unconscious. Debbie sank down onto her knees beside him, carefully patting his cheeks._

_“Come on, wake up. Wake up wake up wake up!”, she looked around frantically, “can someone help, please!?” Apart from one guy, who was filming the whole thing with this phone and didn’t think of putting it away, no one showed as much as a sliver of acknowledgement._

_Just as she was about to curse the living daylights out of the phone guy, she saw a large truck turning on the intersection out of the corner of her eye, coming directly at them at way too high speed. She heard the brakes screeching, but the face of the driver clearly told her that he probably wouldn’t be able to stop in time._

_Adrenaline high in her blood and her throat, she braced herself for the impact. As it turned out, her body had a different idea. Just before both of them could be ran over, Debbie grabbed his coat lapels with as much force as possible and used her body weight to roll them both out of the way. It was a close call, yet in the end the back wheels of the truck came to a standstill only a foot away from her head._

_Once some passersby got out of their initial shocks and filed over to help, everything went by in a blurr for her. She didn’t even remember getting her coat from the kiosk or how she asked the paramedics which hospital they’d bring him to, hell, she couldn’t even remember properly how she got there._

_The reality of the situation only set in as they refused to let her into the ward. “Family only.” So now she was standing there in the middle of the floor’s lobby, hair a mess, still smudges from the dirt of the street on her face, and no idea how to proceed from there. Hopelessly, she stared through the glass doors where he’d just disappeared tied to a stretcher._

_“But I wanted to marry him…”_

_Suddenly, hands grabbed her shoulders and turned her around. “Oh sweetheart, why didn’t you say that right away! Come on, I’ll get you to him.”_

_And then, everything happened very very quickly._

-

“Harry didn’t even tell us he had a girlfriend, let alone a fiancée!”

Debbie’s eyes widened in shock and confusion. She hadn’t even gotten a minute to collect her bearings between being led into the hospital room by the same nurse that had pushed her in and a lot of people - his family, by the looks of it - filing in.

“Well, I - “

“Now that is a coincidence if I ever saw one” the doctor entered the already crowded room, adding effectively to Debbie’s discomfort, “She’s also the one who saved his life.”

For a second, a deadly silence fell like a blanket, before everyone appeared to be speaking up at once.

“My God, really?!”

“You’re his guardian angel!”

“What even happened?!”

All eyes bore into her. Debbie took a deep breath and tried to recall everything she had ever learned from her father and brother. _Remember, you’re only caught when you admit you’ve been caught. Playing it cool is key to everything._

She looked steadily at the woman who introduced herself as his - Harry, he finally had a name to his handsome face - mother. “Three muggers attacked him and pushed him onto the street, a mean hook left him unconscious and I was just able to get him out of the way of an oncoming truck.”

Tears welled up in the woman’s eyes and before Debbie had any chance to react, she was engulfed in a tight hug. “You truly are his guardian angel, I can’t believe he hid you from us! My God, I’m so glad he found you!”

If the situation hadn’t been awkward before, it definitely was now. Stiffly, she patted her back in the hope it would get her to let go sooner. To her demise, not only didn’t she let go, but the rest of the family joined in, leaving her trapped in a cage of bodies. She shot a desperate look at the doctor who’d been standing politely at the side the whole time but he just shrugged good-naturedly, being no help at all.

“It was nothing, really, just- could you please, I need to breathe.”

Finally, she was set free again and she sucked the clean and antiseptic-filled air in like a drowning person.

“Oh I’m sorry dear, I was just so overwhelmed. I can’t say how happy I am!”

“Really, Mrs. Miller, it’s o-”

Again, she was interrupted, the woman finding her footing again and her undoubtedly resolute character shone through. “It’s Linda, please. You’re family after all.”

For a second, Debbie froze. _Family_.

She hadn’t heard that word related to her in a long time and it made something clench deep inside of her. Like a deer caught in the headlights, she didn’t know how to answer. This time however, the doctor saved her by speaking up.

“Let me just tell you his diagnosis and what to expect the next days, and I’ll leave you alone with him.”

Immediately, a tense silence filled the room. While the doctor gave a quick recap, Debbie finally had the time to fully take in the people around her. Next to Mrs. Mi- Linda, who was holding his hand in an iron grip, was a man in his late fifties who glanced back and forth worriedly between Harry on the bed and the doctor. She was sure that this was Mr. Miller.

He in return had his other arm slung around a young girl’s shoulder. Her Asian features didn’t really match up with the exclusively white people in the room, so chances were she was some kind of adoptive or foster child.

Judging by the similarity in facial features, the oldest woman in the room was Linda’s mother. This left only one person, who’d taken residence on one of the chairs right after entering the room. She seemed to be roughly the same age as Harry’s parents, however it was possible that her disheveled appearance made her seem older than she actually was. The way her eyes flitted around the room and her fingers drummed on her thigh in an obnoxious rhythm practically screamed _I’m very very uncomfortable_ at Debbie.

This perfectly fit her own conflicted emotions this very moment. Every sinew in her body was strung right and ready to snap, the relentless rhythm of the older woman’s fingers creating an unnerving mix with her own heartbeat. When she saw the nurse leaving, Debbie took her chance.

Excusing herself quickly, she followed her out of the room. After a few quick steps she had caught up and jumped in front of her.

“Why did you tell them I was his financée? I’m clearly not!”

The woman raised an eyebrow. “You said you were going to marry him when you were standing out there in the hall!”

All colour drained off Debbie’s face. In something between exasperation and embarrassment she threw up her hands and gesticulated wildly. “I was just talking to myself!”

The nurse shrugged her off and made her way to the next patient without a second glance. “Next time you talk to yourself, tell yourself you’re single.”

As inconspicuous as she could, Debbie glanced back at the hospital room of her not-financé. A conflict was raging inside her. On one hand, she just wanted to run off and forget this whole thing had ever happened. On the other however, she knew disappearing like that would ruin every chance she ever had of actually getting to know Harry and maybe have him falling in love with her after all.

What made her return to his bedside in the end was the mere fact that her coat was still in there.

She really just wanted to grab her things and excuse herself politely, but-

“So how did you guys meet?”

Of all the questions this was one Debbie really didn’t want to hear right now. She was exceptionally good at weaving intricate backstories, but she needed time for that, and if one thing had been severely lacking in the past hours, it had been that. Skirting along the truth it was, then.

“Oh, he was a regular at the kiosk I work in, one day we got talking and then one thing led to another”, a string of _aww_ s and _ooh_ s filled the space and she decided to use this moment to make an exit before anyone could interrupt her, “but I gotta go now, it was a pleasure meeting you all!”

Was she actually physically running? Maybe. Waiting for the elevator to finally arrive felt like a nightmare, the fear of a family member coming after her imminent.

~~

Closing the door of her apartment behind her, she released the breath that had been lodged in her throat since the hospital and even a prolonged walk through the crisp winter air hadn’t been able to dissipate. Debbie knew she’d have to come up with a plan on how to proceed from here eventually, but right now nothing seemed more tempting than a TV dinner and the sofa.

Her joy turned out to be short-lived, however, as the doorbell rang in the middle of a re-run of _The Nanny_. After looking through the peephole, she pinched the bridge of her nose and took two deliberate breaths before opening the door.

“Claude.”

If there was one person in the whole world she really didn’t need to see right now, it was the son of her landlord.

“Hey, doll. Can I come in?”

“Sorry, I was actually just about to head out.” Debbie tried to close the door in his face, unfortunately for her, Becker Jr. wasn’t exactly weak. Without any noticeable effort he held the door open with one hand and looked her up and down.

“In your sweatpants?”

Only years of training kept her from blushing furiously. Something was clearly wrong with her, getting caught like a deer in the headlights not only once, but twice on a single day.

“Yeah, well, I gotta change first and you're certainly _not_ invited to that show.“

“Now that's a shame, but I'm here for another thing anyway.“

Debbie heaved a sigh. “What is it?“

A victorious grin formed on Claude's lips. “I got tickets for the Mets vs. Yankees derby on Saturday and I'm pretty sure you'd love to join me.“

Not this again. Claude had been trying to get her on a date with him for almost as long as she had been living in this building and she had turned down every single approach without fail so far. If she weren't that irritated by the whole affair she'd admire his resilience.

“I really don't.“

“Oh but you do.“

She wanted nothing more than to wipe that self-assured smirk off his face. “Whatever, I gotta get ready now.”

“I’ll pick you up Saturday at 6!”

Rolling her eyes in good measure, she ripped the door out of his grip and slammed it into his face. “No you won't!“

To her instant relief, she heard his footsteps retreat down the stairs. But knowing that Claude would lurk somewhere and actually check for her to leave the house – it was creepy, really – she resigned to her fate and put on some fresh clothes in earnest. Another long walk couldn't hurt anyway.

~~

Knowing fully well that the visiting hours were long over - or didn’t start soon, depending how you looked at it -, Debbie still tried to sneak her way into Harry’s hospital room. Sitting in the chair next to his bedside at last, she maybe was a bit disappointed that it had been that easy to get in, but this was neither here nor there.

Carefully, as to not make any noise and attract unwanted attention to herself, she put a chair next to Harry’s bedside. Looking at his peaceful face, she was at a loss once again. Now, what? She had heard that you were supposed to talk to people in a coma because it was very much possible that they could hear you and/or find their way back easier like that.

Straightening her sweater, she tried to get rid of the feeling of ridiculousness at that prospect. No one would hear her anyway, these walls here definitely couldn’t talk. But where to start?

“Do you believe in love at first sight?”

Wow. Right into the hard and heavy stuff it was, apparently.

“You probably don’t, you seem far too rational for that. I’m not too sure about my own take on that, to be honest. But it kinda felt like fate when you came to my kiosk the first time around. Like this would lead up to something big, you know that feeling?”

For her next words, Debbie took his hand in hers, committing the feeling of his skin to her memory. “Your family thinks I’m your fiancée, just so you know. A quick heads-up for when you wake up again, so to say. It was a big misunderstanding with the nurse on duty this morning. I mean, I’d really like to be your fiancée, don’t get me wrong, but I wish the whole thing wouldn’t be built on a misunderstanding that I’m now forced to act out for God knows how long.”

She closed her eyes for a long moment. “I’m actually a little bit scared of you waking up and hence everyone finding out how much of a scam I am.”

As she opened her eyes again, something moving in the periphery of her eye caught her attention, every cell of her body alerted instantly. Yet, when she turned around the only thing she saw was a disinterested nurse shuffling past. Shrugging off the uneasiness in her stomach, Debbie turned back to the bed. Completely busy with stroking over the skin on the back of Harry’s hand, she didn’t even notice how her head sacked lower and lower while her eyelids were getting heavier by the second as the events of the day finally caught up with her.

~~

The next morning, a loud commotion jolted her awake. She was just about to jump out of her seat and run, but a firm hand pushed her back down. Panic constricted her throat until she saw into the gentle eyes of Mr. Miller.

He gave her a broad smile. “Easy, dear, it’s just us. No need to run.”

Debbie didn’t even get the chance to calm her racing heart before Linda pushed her husband to the side and took her face in both hands. “Have you been here the whole night? That’s so sweet of you!”

This woman really was a force in her own way.

Still getting her face squished, Debbie subtly looked around to survey how much trouble she was in. As it turned out, the universe really loved punishing her, seeing that the whole family was back again. Why had she been so careless and fallen asleep? This wasn’t how her nightly visit had been supposed to end.

In the meantime, the attention of the Millers had shifted back to the actual star of the room. Taking a deep breath, Debbie quietly picked up her coat with all intents and purposes of sneaking out. Again, so such luck. Apparently Mrs. Miller had a talent for making things even more awkward for her.

“We didn’t have a proper Christmas dinner thanks to this one”, she patted her son’s feet lovingly through the blanket, “so we decided to reschedule it spontaneously to tonight. We’d be all more than happy to have you join us.”

“That’s so nice of you, Linda, bu-” Debbie didn’t even get to finish before Constance piped up excitedly.

“Lou will be there, too! You need to come!”

“Oh of course! You definitely need to meet Lou, then you finally get to know the whole family!”

There were even more people she’d have to meet and subsequently fool? This was more than she could handle at the moment. She needed to think quickly. “That’s so lovely of you, but I don’t think I’m free tonight.”

Wincing at her feeble attempt at an excuse, she could practically hear her father yell at her from his grave that he’d taught her better than that. But judging from the disappointment in the faces in front of her, they believed it nonetheless.

When the silence in the air became too stuffed for Debbie’s liking, she started to make her exit. “So… I’m sorry, I gotta go now, work and…. yeah.”

“Oh wait, before you go… you wanna take your fiancé’s stuff home?” The nurse’s voice from the door - her escape route, goddammit - startled her.

As she handed her a box full of Harry’s belongings, Debbie accidentally caught Rose’s eyes over the nurse’s shoulder. Something in the older woman’s look had changed; she still seemed slightly anxious about everything but a sharpness showed in her eyes when she mustered Debbie this time. It put the Ocean on edge, to put it mildly.

The box in her hands, she stiffly bid her goodbyes. Out, she needed to get out of here as soon as possible, like yesterday already. Wrapped up in her own screaming thoughts, she collided with someone right before she could escape into the elevator, almost dropping the box in her arms.

“I’m so sorry, miss, I didn’t see- oh, are you Harry’s fiancee?”

Great, another one. Maybe she should start telling the truth with this one. “Well, I-”

“I’m so glad to finally meet you, I wanted to apologise for so long now.”

Damn her curiosity. “Apologise for what?”

“Well, the… y’know, accident?”

“Accident?”

He groaned and started gesturing wildly with his hands. “He didn’t say it was an accident?! It totally was, honestly! I’m a lawyer, I tend to carry a pencil with me in all of my pants, so when we had a spontaneous match of basketball during lunch break and we collided mid-air… an accident, I swear! No one plans to make a colleague lose one of his… y’know.”

It took every ounce of self-control not to gape at him. The same second, she saw the elevator doors open out of the corner of her eye. “I’m… yeah, _that_ accident. He’ll get over it, I’m sure. But I gotta get going now. It was nice meeting you!”

As the elevator doors closed in front of her, the baffled face of Harry’s colleague slowly disappearing, she couldn’t help blinking in disbelief for a moment. This was way past what she had signed up for.

~~

“Tammyyyyyyyyyyy! I don’t know what to do!”

Debbie could practically hear said woman’s eyebrow raise. “Well how should I know?”

“Cos all of this is technically your fault!”

She was pretty sure Tammy was pinching the bridge of her nose and counting to five as she always did when she was particularly exasperated with her. They had spent the better half of the afternoon on the phone going through the mess Debbie had created while being unattended for less than forty-eight hours. While the blonde could deal with Debbie’s relentless whining, playing the designated scapegoat really wasn’t her thing.

“You better have a really good explanation as to why this fuck up is my fault before I throw my bagel at you.”

“You’re hours away. And you wouldn’t waste a perfectly good bagel like that.”

“Deborah.”

Debbie made an incomprehensible hand gesture, completely forgetting that Tammy couldn’t see it. “Yeah, well, if you had taken up your Christmas shift like you were supposed to, I wouldn’t have jumped out of the booth to save Harry and… all that happened afterwards.”

“That’s a lousy explanation. You can go back and back in time with this logic and we’ll end up with everything being the Big Bang’s fault.”

“Well, isn’t it?” the brunette rebutted innocently.

Tammy chewed thoughtfully. “It probably is, I’ll give you that.”

“So, should I go?”

“To the dinner the family of the guy you picked off the street, which at the same time thinks you’re his fiancée cos you didn’t have the guts to tell the truth, invited you to? I really don’t see why you shouldn’t.”

“You’re being sarcastic, right?”

“Ten points to Slytherin.”

Debbie let herself fall back on the couch and covered her eyes with a huff. The blonde could practically hear the gears grinding in her friend’s head. After an ample silence, the Ocean peeked one eye out from between her fingers. Her ceiling still hadn’t any answer written on it.

“I’m gonna go. Even if it’s just to tell them the truth.”

Finishing off the rest of her bagel, Tammy tried to keep her voice as neutral as possible. “Suit yourself, I’ll buy some popcorn for our next meeting.”

~~

If anyone asked her why she was shaking, Debbie’d tell them it was from the obvious December cold and not from nerves. Anything else would’ve been ridiculous.

The snow under her feet crunched loudly - loud enough to deafen her, it felt like. As she grasped for her phone to check the address again as a feeble attempt at stalling, voices reached her ear. Two houses down, Constance was waving excitedly at her from the patio. With that, her back-up plan to just turn around and leave again dissipated right in front of her eyes like snow in the summer heat.

Apparently she had frozen on the spot, because suddenly Rose tapped her lightly on the shoulder, pulling her out of her stasis.

“You okay, dear?”

She hadn’t even heard her coming up from behind despite the crisp snow.

Swallowing a yelp of surprise, Debbie put on her most convincing face. “Sure, for a split-second I thought I’d forgotten something, but it’s all good now.”

Seemingly satisfied with her answer, Rose took her by her arm and gently led her up to the Miller’s house. Well, now there really was no going back from here.

Linda greeted both of them enthusiastically with a peck on the cheek. “I’m so happy you made it, Debbie! Come on in before you both freeze to death!”

Before the Ocean even had the chance to reciprocate the greeting, Rose spoke up. “Go ahead, Linda, I just want to talk to Debbie for a moment.”

Said woman looked at her as bewilderedly as Debbie felt, causing the older woman to wave her away with a small smirk. “I’m not gonna eat her alive, I just want to have a little chat, don’t worry.”

The hair on Debbie’s neck stood straight up at that. It seemed the alarm was clearly visible in her face, as Rose just smiled and patted the cold stairs next to herself after Linda had disappeared inside.

“Oh don’t be afraid, love. I really just wanna chit-chat a bit.”

The Ocean remembered the nice-girl-next-door part she was supposed to play and conceded. Shuffling around so that only the bare minimum of her butt actually touched the ice cold stone, she looked at the older woman expectedly. There was something in her eyes that gave her the feeling of being unmade, she just couldn’t shake it.

“I actually just want to tell you a little story, nothing much. I’m originally from Ireland, as you might’ve already figured out. When I came to the States I didn’t have too much to my name but a big back of dreams. As it turned out, the big old American Dream doesn’t apply to women above twenty-five. When desperation started to eat me from the inside out, I all but paraded around Times Square with a sign around my neck saying that I was in search for work.

“After a few days, Harry’s father approached me. Of course I was wary when he told me they were looking for something like a secretary in his dad’s family business. But that’s what you do, when you have nothing left to lose, right, you do a leap of faith and pray for the best. As it turned out, there is something even better than best.

“My actual dream was to become a famous designer, you see. I might’ve not become famous, but the Miller’s supported my dream through all my years as their employee and later family friend and it’s thanks to them that I’ve been running my own boutique downtown for more than a decade now. Not to mention they gave me the best godson I could’ve ever wished for.

“So you see, I owe the Millers my life and I will defend this family against anything thrown in their way so God help me.”

A loaded silence hung heavy between them like the sword of Damocles. But suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, Rose’s demeanor reverted back to her usual half-anxious self and she smiled cautiously at Debbie.

“So, what about your family?”

Now that was a topic she could deal with, albeit reluctantly. Some wounds just weren’t meant to heal. Still, she tried to banish the hurt from her voice as she answered.

“Well, my parents are dead, and-”

“My God, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to stir something up!”

Rose looked so shocked and guilty the Ocean couldn’t contain a small smile. “Don’t be sorry, they’ve been dead quite some time now.”

“Is there no one else?” The older woman’s hand felt warm on her arm even through her thick winter coat.

“I have a brother, or had, I don’t exactly know. We were inseparable when we were kids, I spent all my teenage years trying to best him, to prove myself - I hated him as much as I loved him, you know? But he has vanished. I was told he was dead, but I don’t really believe it. Knowing him, he might as well just got himself into some fucked up shit and is now in exile somewhere in Nicaragua or something.”

Rose looked more than baffled by that. “This is... oddly specific.”

Debbie just shrugged. This was the closest she could play it to the truth without telling her that her family was completely made up of criminals except for her aunt Ida. Thankfully, Linda peeked her head out of the front door again and thus saved them both from any more awkward conversation.

“You both get in here right now, dinner’s ready and if I have to listen to Constance’s whining just one more minute I might lock her out with you two just so _I_ can eat in peace!”

A loud cry sounded from inside. “Mooooom! I heard that!”

Rose laughed fondly at that and got off the stairs, stretching her cold limbs, while Linda just rolled her eyes in a _see what I mean_ way. Gingerly, her legs felt positively frozen, Debbie made her way to follow them inside the warm hallway.

~~

With a low groan and bleary eyes, Debbie came to the next morning. The rays of the late December sun filtered through the blinds and she closed her eyes again - just to jerk fully awake in an instant. How late was it? Were the Millers still asleep?

Prior to finally nodding of to sleep the night before, Debbie had decided to leave first thing in the morning before anyone was awake to save herself from awkward goodbyes and the risk of getting roped into a joint breakfast. Yes, dinner had been fun and all, and it had been so easy to fall in love with the whole family and their warmth for each other and in addition her, and

...that was exactly why she was now panicking and heading for the next best escape.

Being a part of a real family after all these years again had felt so good, so right - and would feel so devastating once they found out she wasn’t really Harry’s fiancée and cast her out into the dirt. To which they had every right, of course.

Hastily packing her bag, she remembered the little side-glances Rose had shot her all evening long. That woman knew something was up, she was pretty sure. All the more reason to just make a run for it and better not ever appear in Harry’s hospital room ever again, even if it broke her heart and shattered that beautiful dreamland she’d created in her head to a million pieces.

Debbie was almost out of the door, a sigh of relief already dangling from the edge of her lips, when a husky and unfamiliar voice behind her made her freeze on the spot.

“Hey.”


	2. The one in which Debbie doesn't get any rest at all

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The blonde just huffed. “Not a chance, if I don’t drop you off at home my mother will know. And I’m not risking my favorite breakfast over some unwarranted pettiness.”  
> Debbie was somewhat impressed by this level of dedication. “Must be a pretty amazing breakfast.”  
> “You have no idea.”  
> Semi-frustrated at not getting out of this, Debbie typed on her phone. “Follow the GPS and next time I get half of whatever this tremendous food is.”  
> “Deal.”  
> When she looked up, she found a smug grin directed at her, mischief glinting from under too-long bangs. It was so tempting to pinch the bridge of her nose at herself, but she wasn’t going to give Lou that additional satisfaction. Why in seven hells had she said ‘next time’?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY
> 
> Remember when I said I was trying to guilt myself into finishing this by posting the first chapter? As we all saw, this worked splendidly, I did exactly nothing for 8 months. God I'm so sorry. But I'm way too proud to leave anything a WIP so here's to finishing this one for good (one day, one day). This is maybe the only good thing coming out of Corona, self-isolation, and losing my job. Writing tiiiiime.
> 
> So, I'm guesstimating that there'll be at least 2 more chapters, maaaybe 5 in total, jsyk.
> 
> And now, have fun!

“Hey.”

Slowly, Debbie turned around, the hand on the doorknob holding on tightly as if it were a lifeline. As she got the first glance at the person to that voice, her breath got stuck in her throat, rendering her utterly speechless, only a feeble sound escaping from between her lips.

She must have stared for quite some time, because the woman standing on the staircase raised an eyebrow and looked at her amusedly.

“Cat got your tongue?”

That seemed to snap her out of her trance, all of her energy going into appearing calm and collected. “Not exactly, but my actual cat is in dire need of breakfast, so I better be on my way.”

Blue eyes seemed to look right through her. “Reasonable excuse to get away, I’ll give you that. You must be Debbie”, she held out her hand, “I’m-”

Out of nowhere Constance came bounding down the stairs, flinging herself gracelessly at the blonde with a loud squeal.

“Lou! Finally! When did you arrive? Why didn’t you wake me? And why are you all donned up at half past six?”

Oh. So this was this Lou person she’d heard about at the hospital but then hadn’t been able to make it to the dinner due to an accident and subsequent traffic jam on the road. To be honest, she had expected a brother and not a sister. Debbie wasn’t sure how to feel about this relevelation.

“Careful, kid, or you’ll send us tumbling down here”, she ruffled the girl’s hair, “and I’m not donned up, I look like this every day. Also, can’t meet Harry’s fiancée in my PJs, can I?”

The girl just laughed at that. “I don’t think she’d care all that much. You look smokin’ in anything.”

_ Probably in nothing as well.  _ Another feeble sound left Debbie at that thought, granting her the attention of the blonde again.

Before she could voice the undoubtedly witty remark she wanted to make, Linda appeared at the top of the stairs. “My dear girls, what is this ruckus all about? Pete’s still asleep and I need a few more hours for my beauty sleep as well.” 

Lou glanced up at her, practiced innocence on her face. “Oh Mom, you always look beautiful.”

“You just want me to make your favorite breakfast, don’t think you can fool me, young lady”, Linda’s unamused squint wandered from Lou to Debbie, “and you’re not trying to leave already, are you?”

“I’m so sorry, Linda, but I have to. My cat needs his breakfast and I fear I’ve left him alone too long already”, Debbie gave another try, maybe it would work better this time. 

Mrs. Miller’s expression softened. “Oh dear, of course, though it’s a shame you have to leave again already. Have you come by car?”

“Public transport, I don’t have a car.” At the look in Linda’s face she knew she probably had said the wrong thing. Again.

The older woman shot a meaningful glance at Lou. “Public transport, over the holidays and with this weather! That must take ages!”

Debbie knew where this conversation was supposed to go, and so did the blonde judging by her smug cat-that-got-the-cream look.

She dared to make a last feeble attempt to turn this thing around. “It’s fine, I actually like the time to think it gives me.”

However it was no use. Snorting disbelievingly, Lou grabbed her keys and all but sauntered down the remaining steps of the staircase, coming to a halt right in front of the brunette’s face. “You’re in luck, usually I would’ve come by motorcycle”, she grinned and added quietly, her voice dropping, “even though that would’ve been fun too, I guess.”

Debbie felt like her brain had suffered a breakdown and was in dire need of a re-boot. Was this woman - the sister of her ‘fiancé’ - flirting with her? Also, was a voice like that even legal in this state, or any state for that matter?

Before the Ocean could make a fool of herself, Lou faced her mother and demonstratively jingled her key ring. “Don’t worry, Ma, I’ll get her home safe. And while I’m gone you can make that favorite breakfast I just heard you promise me!”

And just like that she was out the door on impossibly long legs in impossibly tight leather pants. Now, was  _ this _ even legal?

As Debbie numbly followed her new personal driver, she only heard Constance whistle an impressed “God damn she’s good” back in the hallway, followed instantly by Linda’s frustrated “Language!”. Then the door fell shut behind her and the door to Lou’s car opened. How poetic - and quite gentlemanly as well.

_ Okay, Ocean, you can do this. You managed to keep up appearances in front of five people without tripping over yourself like three times now. So what is one drive with one more person gonna do? _ While she was giving herself a little pep talk, her eyes had followed the blonde without thinking about it as she walked around the care to the driver’s seat. Unfortunately, the knot in her stomach seemed to be immune to her self-encouragement.

The car came alive under her, but so came Lou’s need to fill the air with words. “So, Debbie was it, did I get that right?”

_ Well, here we go _ . “Yeah, Debbie Ocean.”

A small smile formed on the blonde’s lips, a mix of amusement and curiosity glinting in her eyes. “And Debbie’s your full name?”

“No.” She knew she was being difficult on purpose, but for one she just wanted to get this unwanted ride over with and not think about every single word as not to blow her covers, and for two there was something about Lou that just put her on edge, something she was unable to put her finger on. There was barely anything else in the world which frustrated her more than that.

“You’re quite the talker, must’ve had Harry in your pocket right away”, came the sarcastic and unimpressed response from next to her.

Chin raised in childlike defiance, Debbie put on a syrupy-sweet tone. “So, Lou Miller, is that your full name?”

She was rewarded with a perfect copy of her voice. “No.”

Before she could come up with another admittedly childish rebuttal, Lou rudely interrupted her train of thought. 

“While I’m all for continuing this and seeing who comes out on top - spoiler alert: it’s usually me - I need your address if you don’t want me to drive around in circles and thus prolong both our suffering.”

“If you’re suffering, you can just let me out here.”

The blonde just huffed. “Not a chance, if I don’t drop you off at home my mother will  _ know _ . And I’m not risking my favorite breakfast over some unwarranted pettiness.”

Debbie was somewhat impressed by this level of dedication. “Must be a pretty amazing breakfast.”

“You have no idea.”

Semi-frustrated at not getting out of this, Debbie typed on her phone. “Follow the GPS and next time I get half of whatever this tremendous food is.”

“Deal.” 

When she looked up, she found a smug grin directed at her, mischief glinting from under too-long bangs. It was so tempting to pinch the bridge of her nose at herself, but she wasn’t going to give Lou that additional satisfaction. Why in seven hells had she said ‘ _ next time _ ’?

When she finally _ finally _ saw her building coming up, she was just about ready to- 

“You could at least wait for me to stop the car before you jump out.”

As inconspicuously as possible, Debbie inched her hand away from the door handle. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The blonde chuckled, parking the car, and turned to face her. “So, I’ll see you around, Debbie Ocean.” 

For a moment, she felt pinned to the door by those unbelievable icy blue eyes. Before her mind could drift to even farther and more dangerous places, she shook herself out of it and plastered on a coy grin like a makeshift armour.

“I guess you will, Lou Miller.”

Stepping out and closing the door behind her with just enough force to assert herself, she stepped away from the car, one deliberate step after another. It was all about leaving the desired impression even in walking away - if her hips were swaying a bit more than necessary, then so be it.

She needed to talk to Tammy, right the fuck now.

What she failed to notice when she all but ran through the door and up the stairs, was Claude watching her arrival from several feet away and subsequently making his way over to Lou’s car.

~~

“So you’re a lesbian all of a sudden?” 

Debbie had difficulties making out the words over Tammy’s loud chewing noises. That woman really had made true of her promise and prepared a bowl of popcorn for their conversation - and had probably insisted on facetiming just to rub it in.

The Ocean took a deep breath. Almost thirty years to her name and still this conversation wasn’t becoming any easier. “No, bi. And I’ve always been.”

The look on the younger woman’s face was unreadable, only a hint of disappointment shining through. “You never told me. We’ve known each other for ages!”

“Five years, Tammy”, the Ocean was short of rolling her eyes, “So it happened that didn’t have a real interest in any woman during that time and thus didn’t deem it relevant to tell you.”

The blonde raised a pointed eyebrow while pushing the next handful of popcorn into her mouth. Debbie faltered.

“Fine. Maybe I’ve also been a bit scared you might freak out and pull the whole ‘ _ oh my God are you into me?? _ ’ or  _ ‘no I can’t be friends with you anymore it’s disgusting and now I feel like you’re preying on me _ ’ stint.”

“I hope my face portrays adequately the hurt I’m feeling about these presumptions.” It did, in fact.

“Now you’re just being dramatic.”

“You love me, tho.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“You’re not into me then?” Another handful of popcorn vanished between Tammy’s lips.

She snorted. “Most certainly not.”

“Well, your loss, really”, the blonde shrugged completely unimpressed.

“I think I can live with that. Maybe I’ll mourn the lack of my attraction to you once this whole mess I call my life is sorted out.”

“And you got laid by that hot mysterious sister of the comatose guy you’re fake-engaged to.”

Debbie buried her face in her hands. “God, I just want to go back to my boring life where I had like five social contacts and spent all my free time on my couch with my cat.”

At her own words, something poked at the far back of her mind as if she had forgotten something she really really shouldn’t have. 

“Shit!”

Realization had set in with panic hot on its heels, and in a moment of overwhelming shock Debbie jumped up and knocked over her propped up phone.

Tammy’s voice came muffled from the carpet where it had landed face-down, but while the Ocean couldn’t make out her words, the indignation at this treatment was more than audible. A sheepish look on her face, she picked the phone back up and turned it around.

“The hell was that?!”

“I’m so so sorry, Tam, but I just remembered that Harry has a cat too and since I got the keys to his apartment I should probably go and feed it.” Yeah, she  _ really _ shouldn’t have forgotten that.

Instantly, Tammy’s irritated expression changed into one of boundless curiosity and excitement. “Ohhh, the first look into your possible future apartment! Can I come with you, pretty pleeeeease?”

“You most certainly can’t.”

“C’mon, Debs, you can totally log into his WIFI, you don’t need to worry about your data. Am I not your very best friend?”

“You’re a nuisance and the reason I’m in this whole mess, that’s what you are.”

“I still refuse to acknowledge that, you could’ve come clean right from the beginning.”

Both woman glared at each other through their respective phones. To everyone’s surprise, it was Debbie who caved in first. As much as she hated to admit it, her friend was right.

“I’ll see what I can do once I’ve made sure the cat hasn’t starved to death.”

Before Tammy could show off her standard triumphant dance moves, the Ocean wordlessly ended the call. It were moments like these she missed the good old flip phones - just snapping the phone shut would’ve had so much more flair. 

Grabbing a can of tuna from her kitchen, she headed out and hoped by all that was good and kind in the universe she wouldn’t have to explain a dead cat to the Millers, too.

~~~

Debbie had to confess she was impressed. Knowing Harry was a lawyer should’ve been a giveaway regarding his housing situation, yet she hadn’t expected anything like  _ that _ . Remembering her dubious education - thanks, Dad -, she quickly schooled her features. She previously had only entered posh buildings like this one when she’d been out on a heist, so all her instincts told her to blend in and look like she belonged.

Standing in the elevator all by herself, she allowed herself to take a quick breather. She wasn’t on a heist or doing anything criminal for that matter, why was she stressing herself out like that? Heaving a sigh, Debbie made her way out of the elevator and down the hallway.

Well, here goes.

Taking in her surroundings, she wondered yet again what the hell she had expected. The apartment in front of her stood in crass contrast to her own. Where her flat was crammed - her preferred term was ‘cozy’ - Harry’s was spacious, clean, right from an upper-class realtor catalogue. Oh how Debbie wanted it.

However, there was no sign of a cat so far, everything was eerily silent. Bracing herself for the worst case scenario, Debbie started to explore the rooms, tuna can firmly in hand.

“Here, kitty kitty, here, got some food for ya! Here kitty!”

Half of the rooms - he had so many rooms, Debbie was just short of falling in love right then and there - were behind her already, but there still was no sign of a cat apart from a lone food bowl in the kitchen. Her fingers itched to take something, anything. Finally, her curiosity got the better of her, and she opened up the cupboards, checking what a person like Harry might eat.

Just as the apartment, his cupboards were mostly empty apart from some plates and cups. To be honest, Debbie wasn’t all that surprised by that. When she opened the freezer and was met with a dozen tubs of Baskin-Robbins however, she actually had to laugh. So that was his guilty pleasure, apparently.

Her stomach started rumbling and she looked longingly between the icecream and the tuna in her hand. Cat first, than herself.

She pushed the next door open, but instead of another room she was met with resistance and a familiar voice. “Careful or you might slam that into someone’s way too beautiful face.”

Her? Again? Why was the universe out to get her, what had she ever done to deserve this kind of treatment? Apart from stealing from hundreds of unsuspecting people, of course.

“Now, who would that be?”, she regarded Lou with an icy look, “And how did you get in?”

The blonde held up her keys as if it were obvious. “How did  _ you _ get in?”

In the same manner, Debbie wordlessly dangled the keys in the air with a raised eyebrow.

“Spending a lotta time here, then.”

“Someone has to feed the cat”, she shrugged evasively.

“Harry doesn’t have a cat.” A triumphant look spread on Lou’s face, confident enough to make Debbie doubt herself. 

Just as she was about to say something, anything, to salvage the situation and stop herself from switching into panic mode, a quiet tinkle sounded from around the corner followed by a soft mew. Debbie was short of laughing out loud.

Shooting Lou a ‘what did you say?’ look, she picked up the cat and snuck a quick look at the name tag. “Hello Fluffy, aren’t you hungry, baby, hmm?”

Putting the cat and the opened tuna can on the counter, she turned to the other woman again, demonstratively petting the cat. “So you’re telling me you didn’t know about our cute lil Fluffy here?”

Oh that sweet sweet feeling of triumph coursing through her veins, how she lived for it. It didn’t matter that pure luck had just saved her, the results were what counted - one being Lou’s frustrated frown. 

Suddenly, the landline ringed and Debbie wanted nothing more than to scream at the universe for not granting her a second of rest.

“Don’t you wanna get that?” Lou looked at her expectantly.

“Nah, it’s probably not important anyway.”

Seconds passed by slow as honey dripping from a spoon as they fought a silent staring match, the sound of the phone deafeningly loud. Finally, the blonde picked up the phone and Debbie wasn’t all that sure anymore if she’d just won or actually lost.

A thousand scenarios ran through her head when Lou looked at her with an unreadable expression. “It’s for you.”

Debbie felt as baffled by that as Lou actually was, but she’d rather amputate her right middle finger - which was in regular use and thus very dear to her - than let it show. Putting on a  _ what can you do? _ face, she took the hearer out of the blonde’s hand.

Being well aware that she was being watched, the Ocean turned to the large window front - with a spectacular view over the city of course - and only let Lou hear quiet noises and the odd monosyllabic word here and there. 

At last, she decided to have mercy on the blonde and ended the call. “It was the hospital. They said it’s common for family and friends to come in and donate blood.”

“Then we better get going before my dear brother runs out.”

Lou was already out of the door before Debbie could properly scold her. “That’s not funny!”

In the end, she caught up with her in the parking garage below the complex.

“Finally. Here I was thinking the cat was still hungry after the tuna and attacked you. Alright, let’s take Harry’s car.”

Debbie instantly knew there was more to the suggestion. “Why should we take the car of someone who isn’t even here instead of the perfectly fine car of someone who  _ is _ here?”

“I’ve come by bike, so no way of playing driver like that - except you wanna get real cozy”, Lou replied not even a little bit sorry, “so what’s the matter? Don’t you know what his car looks like?”

Ah, there it was, another test. If Debbie weren’t growing more tired of them by the minute, she would admire her stubbornness. Never one to back down from a challenge, though, she pressed the unlock button on the car key without breaking eye contact. 

The subsequent beeping sound gave her another surge of confidence and with an innocent smile on her lips she turned around to catch sight of the car lights’ final flash. Hearing Lou following her, she looked over her shoulder, all innocence replaced with a warning as she tossed the car keys at her.

“I’m not a fool, if you had come on your precious bike, you’d be wearing at least a biker jacket.”

They stared each other down over the roof of the car for a long moment. Finally, Lou gave her a lopsided grin and tipped her invisible hat in compliment. “Touché.”

After that, silence had stretched out between them. Throughout the whole car ride up until their arrival at the blood donation wing they had barely spoken a word to each other. To her great surprise, it hadn’t even felt that awkward. What had been a bit awkward, however, had been the glances they had snuck at each other from time to time in the hope the other wouldn’t notice. They had both failed spectacularly. Every single time.

Debbie was still musing about if she had become rusty and lost her stealthiness or if it was possible that one person was able to throw her off her game that much when the nurse was bandaging her arm and handing her something to drink.

Then she caught those piercing blue eyes again - had Lou been watching her the whole time? - and knew she’d made a mistake, just like back in school when you failed to avoid eye contact with the teacher and became their designated victim for the class’ duration.

“So, when did you meet?”

“May 7th.” When it came to dates, she always tried to stay with the truth, if possible. It was so easy to jumble over made up dates and risk everything.

“Not even eight months ago, he didn’t get you pregnant, did he?”

Seconds passed by in silence and probably even the present nurse was holding her breath in anticipation, while Debbie hoped nothing more than to have misheard. Yet Lou just kept looking at her expectantly. Grappling for words, all she could muster up was an indignant but heartfelt “Excuse me?!”

Lou just shrugged as best as she could with the nurse bandaging her up. “So no? I mean, couldn’t be exactly sure with those oversized sweaters you’re wearing.”

Debbie was just about ready to strangle this impossible woman. However she had a strict no-killing-policy, so she did the next best thing. Ignoring the protests of the nurse, she hopped off the stretcher and stormed out of the room. 

She knew Lou made to follow her, she could feel it in her bones without even turning around. Yet before Debbie could will her legs to move faster, she heard rumbling and things clattering to the floor. Against all her better judgement, she turned around to find Lou leaning awkwardly and not really stable against a supply trolly.

All her anger momentarily forgotten, she made a beeline for her before she could keel over, and shouldered her way under her right arm to steady her. “My god, are you okay?”

“You can still call me Lou, y’know.” Only when the blonde raised her head to cover up her weak moment with a smug grin, Debbie realized how close their faces actually were. Not to mention how Lou was studying her face from her hairline down to her chin. And did she linger half a second longer on her lips or was that her imagination running wild from the blood loss?

Her annoyance with this infatuating woman came back with a vengeance (and probably as some sort of defense mechanism as well, if she was being honest with herself). “I see you’re doing just fine.”

Without any warning she let go and strutted away, causing the blonde to fall to the floor with a surprised yelp. How she loved her daily dose of schadenfreude. Without turning around this time, she made her way to Harry’s room where the rest of the family was already waiting for them.

She was just through the door when Lou caught up with her and right away started throwing rapid-fire questions at her, each getting more ridiculous than the next in her opinion.

“Favorite icecream?”

Thank god she’d been nosy back in the flat. “Baskin-Robbins, duh.”

“His favorite newspaper?” She really was relentless.

Debbie couldn’t help rolling her eyes for good measure. “Honestly? You know we met at the kiosk. Where I work. Where he bought his newspaper every single morning for months.”

Their back and forth went on, the Millers looking from one woman to the other like at a tennis match, until Linda had seen more than enough. Eyebrows tightly knitted together, she put herself between the two women. “Lou, what’s this, why are you quizzing her like that?” 

If they had been alone, Debbie would’ve stuck out her tongue at Lou over her mother’s shoulder. Due to the presence of the rest of the family, she opted for crossing her arms in front of her chest and shooting her a  _ Yeah, why are you? _ look.

“Oh I don’t know, why don’t we ask her boyfriend!” the blonde retorted, hands on her hips.

Linda gasped and went to her son’s bedside. “This is not funny, young lady!”

The blonde looked from her mother to Harry and back again, rolling her eyes. “I don’t mean this witless oaf, Mom, I’m talking about Claude Becker.”

If Debbie had had a drink in her hand, she would’ve spat it out like in a classic romcom. However her life seemed to be lacking the romance part for that. Even the comedy part was on thin fucking ice here. So she opted for just raising her eyebrows in disbelief. “Claude Becker Junior?”

“The one.”

“He’s not my boyfriend”, she snorted.

“He said you were dating when I met him outside your building.”

Okay, now her amusement was slowly turning into annoyance. Again. “Tsk. He wishes we were. He’s nothing more than the son of my landlord and a nuisance for as long as I’ve known him.”

Lou opened her mouth to argue further but her father held up his hand to effectively silence her. “Lou, lay off, this is clearly some misunderstanding.”

“Is it really? Don’t you think it’s weird that Harry wouldn’t tell us about getting engaged?”

“Well, considering how-” Constance tried to get a word in, but was interrupted immediately by Grandma Daisy.

“If she would have anything to prove to us, she would”, the old woman turned to Debbie, “wouldn’t you, sweetheart?”

Well shit.  _ Shit shit shit shit shit _ . 

This was the moment she had been trying to avoid, this was the moment everything could fall apart. Her mind was kicking into overdrive, wrecking itself to find anything that would cast all doubt aside, anything that would save her from being chased and beaten out of the hospital with an umbrella. Only one thing came to mind.

This wouldn’t be pretty and she hated herself for having to go there.

“Harry only has one… y’know.”

By the puzzled looks she was receiving, she realized she had to be more specific. This was so awkward.

“He has only one… testicle.”

You could’ve heard a hairpin falling to the floor. Everybody was looking at her, completely aghast, and probably hoping for her to laugh and declare this a joke. 

It was his father who got his bearings first and croaked out a disbelieving “What?”

“He had an accident a few months back while playing with his colleagues, they were playing basketball and one had a pencil in his back pocket, and…” Debbie made some vague movements with her hands which left everyone wincing, especially Pete, whose hands had wandered subconsciously to cover his groin.

After the first shock had passed, the Millers looked unsure from on person to the next. Debbie knew exactly what they were thinking and trying to sort out among each other in silence. As she had predicted, a very awkward affair.

At last, Linda threw up her hands in surrender. “Fine, I’m his mother, I get it.”

Everyone in the room was holding their breath - most of all Debbie - as Harry’s mother slowly lifted his blanket and peeked under it. Her expression was unreadable as she retracted her hand and looked around with gravitas. 

“And?” 

“Well”, started Linda slowly, demanding the attention of everyone in the room, “I’m furious.”

_ Oh-oh _ . The Ocean quickly scanned the room for the fastest escape route. To her dismay, there was no running away now as Lou had planted herself between her and the doorway. God, this woman was so annoying (and quite hot standing there, feet planted firmly on the ground and fixing Debbie with a storm brewing in her eyes - but this was neither the time or the place, like, ever).

“Mom? What do you mean?” Constance asked finally to spur her mother on and end the dramatic pause.

Linda’s face was filled with sadness as she heaved a sigh. “Another thing he hasn’t told us. Why is he keeping all these secrets from us?”

Debbie was pretty sure the weight falling off her chest made enough noise to wake Harry from his coma. Instead his father lowered his eyes and spoke quietly.

“Guess that’s my fault, isn’t it?”

She didn’t know why he had said that, but the way a silent heaviness filled the room at his words, there probably was a long and still raw backstory. To her great confusion, her heart started aching. And to her great dismay she realized… she cared for this family. A lot. 

Everything was getting more complicated by the minute.

~~~

Debbie had barely been made it into her flat when urgent knocking made its way to her ears. Closing her eyes to the ceiling, she took a deep breath. She just wanted to rest, why could life not let her rest? 

Another question popping to her mind right after opening the door was  _ and why can’t I use the peephole? _

“You stood me up!”

For a second the Ocean was flabbergasted enough by that accusation to let Claude slip through the door and into the flat. All the frustration of the day came bubbling to the surface as she slammed the door shut loud enough for him to flinch, and turned to face him.

“The fuck are you talking about?”

Not being known for his ability to read the room or knowing when it just wasn’t the right time at all, he prattled on. “We were supposed to be on a date tonight!”

“We were wha-”, then the memory came back to her, “I never said I’d go with you to that match!”

“Yes you did!”

She could nothing but groan. “I did not and is it really too much to ask of you to not make a mess of my life?”

“What are you-”

Another knock on the door. Debbie was ready to punch something, preferably Claude, and then throw something at the door. Well, at least this time she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

“Who is it?” she shouted loud enough for the person outside - and her neighbors too - to hear.

“It’s Rose.”

Oh great. Oh how perfectly great. “Just a second!”

As quietly as possible, she shoved Claude into the direction of her built-in closet. “You get in there, stay there, and most of all do not make a single sound!” she hissed at him.

Luckily for her, he was that overwhelmed by the situation that he went without much protesting. Between closing one door and opening another, Debbie tried to wipe any traces of anger and annoyance from her face.

“Hello Rose”, good, her voice sounded pleasant enough to her own ears, “what’s the matter, did anything happen?”

The older woman wrung her hands. “May I come in for a minute?”

This clearly wasn’t good. But the Ocean was nothing but polite, so she motioned the older woman to come in. “Of course, take a seat. You want something to drink?”

“No thanks, dear, I won’t stay long”, Rose replied absentmindedly while her eyes flitted around the room in her usual nervous manner.

“Okay, so-”

“I know everything.”

And there it was. The words Debbie had dreaded to hear the past few days. Of course everything had to fall apart sooner or later and she would have to face the consequences, but… 

“What do you mean?” It was worth a try, wasn’t it?

To the Ocean’s surprise, there was no anger or outrage in Rose’s face, only a small knowing smile graced her features. “You know what I’m talking about. But if you want me to spell it out for you: you’re not Harry’s fiancée, not even his girlfriend.”

Surrendering to her fate, Debbie deflated and sunk down on a chair. “You’re right, I’m not. It was all a misunderstanding with the nurse on duty as he was brought into the hospital - I mean, I work at a kiosk and I saved him from getting run over, all of that is true, but I don’t think he even paid me more than two thoughts apart from his usual order”, it all came rushing out, all those words that had been dying to get free, “and I wanted to tell you all, but it got harder by the minute. Then Lou came around and started challenging me and I’m, like, physically unable to back down from a challenge and-”

“Yeah, she does that”, Rose’s fond chuckle interrupted her rambling, “but Debbie, remember when we talked on the Millers’ steps?”

She nodded with a wince. How could she forget Rose’s passionate speech about how she would never let any harm come to her adopted family? Bracing herself for the worst, she found her eyes over the coffee table but found nothing but kindness.

“You care for them, don’t you?”

Debbie had to laugh despite herself. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

Satisfied, Rose leaned back. “Then don’t tell them.”

“I- what? But-”

“No, really, I mean it. It might seems irrational, but… you gave them Harry back. There is a tragic backstory here, I know you noticed it today at the hospital, and I will not dive into that as it isn’t my place, but you actually brought the family closer together again. By telling them, you might not only lose them, but they will lose each other, lose Harry again. You’re part of this family now.”

Wide-eyed, Debbie looked at her, completely at a loss for words. She had expected to hear whatever, but not this. Quietly and slightly uncoordinated in her nervous way, Rose got up to leave, gently placing a hand on the Ocean’s shoulder.

“I can’t tell you what to do, just… think about it, dear. And while I’m really curious to know how you knew about this situation… down there, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know.”

Debbie didn’t even get the chance to reply properly or even see her out, that quickly had Rose already closed the door behind herself again. Hiding her face behind her hands, the Ocean let her head hang over the backrest. She would’ve loved nothing more than to just open a bottle of wine right now and curl up on the spot Rose had occupied mere seconds ago.

A rumbling however reminded her of another problem she still had to take care of. With a heartfelt groan, she all but slid from her chair to get up.

When she opened her closet door, Claude greeted her with a smug grin and one of her panties dangling from his fingers. That was it. She was more than ready to lose her last shred of composure and strangle him with said panties, when there was a knock at her door… again.

Bloody. Fucking. Hell.

Slamming the closet door shut again - Claude’s painful yelp was oh so satisfying - Debbie stomped back to her front door and swung it open, ready to read the riot act to whoever it was. Then she almost choked on her tongue.

She really  _ really  _ needed to start using the damn peephole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you liked it, and if you want to scream at me for taking so long that's fine too ^^"


	3. The one in which it only gets more complicated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She felt the body against hers vibrate with a quiet chuckle. “Gotta say, that’s an interesting change of things, usually it’s me pinning the girls somewhere.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said I'd keep it up and I (almost always) keep my word!  
> The only thing that might've changed is the number of total chapters... I said maximum 5 last time, didn't I? Seeing how things tend to get away from me, it might be more, who knows at this point anymore.. I certainly don't.
> 
> Now enjoy lots of Lou interactions! :D

There she stood in all her glory, clad in black leather pants, an obnoxious faux-fur coat with leopard print, and heels she really shouldn’t be wearing in this weather. Some little part in Debbie’s brain short circuited. 

Lou looked at her expectantly. “For a moment it seemed like you wanted to scream at me there. Go on, let it all out. Some person or other might even say that I deserve it.”

The Ocean tried to blink her brain into operating mode again. It was a tempting offer, really, but instead Debbie opted for an icy “You here with more questions?”

“Is that a proposal?”

“Not really, no.”

“Good, cos I have nothing prepared, no questions, nada. And… did I just see Rose leaving?”

Debbie looked at her cooly. “She stopped by to apologize on the behalf of her goddaughter.” 

Lou actually lowered her eyes to the floor sheepishly at that, she was surprised to see. Remembering the blonde’s previous words, she raised an eyebrow. “So you’ve just come here for the fun of it? I mean, how many times a day can you meet a person?”

“Just to see your sweet face, third time’s the charm I’ve heard.”

She matched Lou’s sarcasm with her own. “As if.”

“Oh well, you caught me”, the blonde replied grinning, “I actually got an engagement present for you.”

Now that piqued her interest. Carefully, she looked the woman in front of her up and down. “And where is it?”

Lou chuckled at her childlike curiosity. “Outside, needed Dad’s truck to bring it. And I might also need your help to carry it.”

Suddenly Debbie remembered that the Miller’s owned a home liquidation business. She couldn’t help groaning. “It’s furniture, isn’t it?”

“Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve seen it! It’s a beauty.”

The brunette pressed her lips together in contemplation. If would be rude and way too suspicious if she didn’t at least look at it, right? Just as she was about to come up with some sort of vague reply, a crash sounded behind her.

_Oh shit._

Now there was something - or rather someone - she’d completely forgotten about. She grabbed the scarf she had just discarded what felt like five minutes ago. “You know what, let’s get it to Harry’s place. Everything looks prettier there.”

Ignoring her words, Lou tried to look past her, eyebrows knitted in confusion at the sound. “What was that?”

“Just my cat. He is a menace sometimes.” Another thundering noise reached their ears and Debbie winced.

“And quite big apparently.”

A look of innocence plastered across her face, Debbie almost pushed Lou back from her doorstep and pulled the door closed behind herself. “Very big, Fluffy got nothing on him.”

With a shooing gesture, she motioned the blonde head down the stairs before her, a silent sigh falling from her lips. She hoped and prayed to anything that was holy that Claude’s sense of self-preservation was big enough to keep him from doing anything stupid in her flat. Or so help him.

~~~

“I think you parked up way too close to the car in front.”

Lou rolled her eyes. “Do you even have a driver’s license? Also, I need the space back here to get your present out.”

“That big, huh?”

“I don’t half-ass things, Ocean.”

Debbie snorted loudly. “Oh now we’re at last names, is that how it is? Well, then show me what you got, Miller.”

With a flourish, Lou opened the truck’s back cover. “Come and see for yourself!”, she jumped up into the cargo area and held out her hand, “M’lady?”

The Ocean shook her head in amusement. “From last name to ‘my lady’? Decide on something, you’re giving me a whiplash here.”

The blonde winked at her. “I can come up with even more ways to address you, if you give me enough time… now come on up!”

An embarrassing noise died right in the back of Debbie’s throat, an onslaught of way too inappropriate images popping up inside her head. Shaking herself out of it, she took the offered hand and… felt paralyzed all over again.

For a second it seemed like time was standing still around them. When she dared to look up from their joined hands and the invisible warmth flowing between them, she found Lou watching her in return. Before she could embarrass herself by saying anything at all, though, the grip on her hand tightened and she was yanked up.

Failing to prepare herself for the movement in such short notice, she lost her balance and stumbled into the blonde, trapping her between her body and an old wooden cupboard which loudly protested the sudden onslaught.

She felt the body against hers vibrate with a quiet chuckle. “Gotta say, that’s an interesting change of things, usually it’s me pinning the girls somewhere.”

Okay, this was it, this was the moment Debbie was more than willing to die on the spot. If death were to take her right now, she would jump into its arms. Including a run-up.

Since the ground did not do itself up to swallow her, she jumped away from the blonde as far as she could instead - and almost fell backwards over another piece of furniture. 

Her face was beet-red when she finally found her voice, albeit a bit squeaky, again. “So, which one is it?”

She had been aiming for cool and collected, but by the look on Lou’s face - that goddamn smug grin well in place - she hadn’t been all that successful. Against all odds, however, she seemed to have mercy on her and pointed to the sofa next to her as if nothing had happened.

Debbie regarded the piece of furniture with apprehension. “Are you sure that we can carry that into the apartment?”

“I assure you, I’m stronger than I look” Lou mumbled from behind the sofa where she was untying the safety hooks. Meanwhile, the Ocean pretended not to look at her leather-clad behind.

“I really hope so, cos you’re lanky as fuck and I myself am not particularly known for being a bodybuilder.”

A blond and disheveled head popped up again. “Let’s just call this our workout of the day. Now help me get it to the ledge.”

The whole ordeal was nothing but push and pull. Admittedly, the lifting cart was helping quite a lot, but there was nothing it could do when they stood on opposite sides of the door to the apartment at last, with the sofa tightly wedged and stuck in the door frame. 

“Well, I feared as much”, Lou commented drily.

The brunette’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “Honestly? You actually thought that this might happen and didn’t consider taking some precautions, like measuring the distances for example?”

“In my defense, it was supposed to go into _your_ flat. I can’t plan for everything.” The blonde flung herself down on the cushions, looking up at her through her shaggy bangs, devil-may-care attitude on full display.

Debbie just glared down at her. “My door frame is even narrower than this! Now, what’re we gonna do about this, hm?”

Groaning, Lou got up again. “Good old brute force, I guess. I push as hard as I can, you pull, and we both hope you don’t get buried under the sofa once it springs free.”

“Nuh-uh, I’m not gonna be the literal push-over in this scenario. We’ll switch places.” She was already clambering over the creaking furniture before the blonde could protest. Rolling her eyes, she awkwardly pushed past her to get into the apartment.

Somehow and against all odds, it worked, although with a fair share of collateral damage. The door frame had splintered slightly, the sofa was missing some fabric on the backside, and last but not least, a vase containing decorative blue liquid had found its sudden death as the sofa had finally sprung free and Lou had toppled backwards. Whatever this blue liquid was, it was now making itself a new home in the white carpet while the two women watched in dismay.

“I guess we found the perfect spot for the sofa.”

Lou’s deadpan comment was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The whole day, from waking up at the Millers’, to the call with Tammy, to the uncomfortable hospital stay, to Claude and Rose in her flat to now this, finally took its toll on her and Debbie could do nothing but laugh.

Doubling over and falling onto the sofa, she was unable to fight the desperate laughter shaking her body, so she decided to just give up and ride it out. Through teary eyes she found the blonde’s face scrunched up in mild annoyance.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t _that_ funny.”

That just sent her into another fit. 

Rolling her eyes, Lou stalked off to get a broom, determined to clean up the mess they had made. Accompanied by Debbie’s slowly receding laughter, she made quick work of it, every once in a while glancing at her and shaking her head.

The Ocean’s eyes were still shining with unshed tears when Lou had finished, but short laughs were only few and far between by now.

“C’mon, let’s get out of here, there are probably a few neighbors dying to get a look on us through their peep holes after all this noise.”

Lou taking her hand was what sobered her up for good at last. After she had been pulled up off the sofa, Debbie sheepishly wiped away the remainder of her tears of laughter on her red cheeks. 

“Phew. Can’t remember the last time I laughed this hard, my abs are killing me.”

“You should do that more often, it suits you.”

The Ocean’s head shot up immediately, but the other woman had already turned her face away and was making her way to the front door. After taking one last deep breath and looking for anything they’d forgotten to clean up, she followed her to the elevator.

The whole ride down, Debbie was mulling over Lou’s last words. It was just an off-hand comment, right? Nothing to interpret anything into, right? But to be honest, after this rollercoaster ride of a day, the lines between right and whatever was on the other side had become even blurrier than they were usually for her.

Her thoughts got interrupted when they reached the sidewalk.

“I can’t fucking believe it!”

Looking at the car that had parked directly behind the truck, Debbie pressed her lips tightly together for a second. “Do you want me to tell you _I told you so_ now or wanna save it for later?”

“Later, thanks for your kind consideration”, Lou gritted her teeth, “Do you know any way to solve this without a towing truck and massive after-hours fees?”

“Not right now, sorry.”

Slumping her shoulders, the blonde leaned against the truck, head falling back against the tarp with a groan. “So it’s down to waiting and hoping one of the car owners comes around, isn’t it?”

Debbie raised her eyebrows. Well, she was certainly not gonna stick around for god knows how long for that. “Good luck with that, I’ll see ya.”

Lou looked genuinely shocked. “So you’re just gonna leave me here like that?”

“Without a single ounce of regret no less.” Well, that wasn’t exactly true, but she was still trying to come to grips with the fact that the blonde wasn’t that bad, but quite alright in fact. More than alright, if she was being honest with herself - which she clearly had no interest in at the moment.

In turn, Lou dramatically mimed a knife stabbing her chest. “That’s harsh. Gruesome and harsh, actually.” 

Against her will, the Ocean had to laugh at that. There was way too much laughing involved here, too dangerous. “You’ll live, drama queen.”

“Your faith in me is refreshing, but I think I better walk you back.”

Now that earned the blonde another raised eyebrow. “Why would you?”

“For protection.”

Debbie instantly bristled at that. She was no damsel in distress, she was very well able to find her way back home without anything happening to her (usually _she_ was the one happening _to_ other people, which they only figured out long after). At her unhappy face, humour started to trickle into Lou’s expression.

“For _my_ protection, of course. With your death glare no one within a half mile radius would dare to approach you.”

“Then how come you’re still standing here?”

At that, something changed in the blonde’s eyes. Debbie liked to believe it was a trick of the light, no way the blue suddenly not only looked but also felt… warmer. However, it was gone before she could think more of it. 

Lou shrugged noncommittally. “We’ve had this before, Mom will _know_ if I just let you roam around all by yourself. And when it comes down to it, I’m more scared of her than of you.”

Debbie couldn’t help but grin. Rolling her eyes in fond amusement, she nodded her head and motioned the blonde to follow. Yep, this was getting dangerous very fast.

~~~

As if to spite everyone, it had only begun to snow right after Christmas. The ground was layered with a mix of ice, snow and dirty puddles, and had become dangerous to walk on if you didn’t know which spots to avoid stepping onto. Yet along the Hudson, away from dirty car tires, the snow seemed untouched for New York standards, the majority of the people having driven home for Christmas and New Year’s, or plainly just not fancying the cold outside.

They walked around the river in companionable silence for a while, the only sound being the crunch of thawing salt under their shoes. Then the clattering of Debbie’s teeth got too loud, apparently.

“You seem cold.”

The Ocean pulled her jacket tighter around herself at the statement. “Well, it is cold, in case you haven’t noticed all that snow around us.”

The other woman looked bemusedly at her feeble attempt to squeeze a bit more warmth out of her already closed jacket. “You know that saying about wrong clothes?”

Disbelievingly, Debbie looked from Lou’s face to her high heels and back again. “Yeah yeah, there’s no bad weather, only bad choice of clo-” Further words died right on her tongue as the blonde wordlessly draped her leopard print coat over her shoulders.

The coat and the lingering warmth of Lou’s body immediately engulfed her, any remaining thought about the cold and her shaking limbs forgotten in an instant. Her face felt hot too, but that was for an entirely different reason. Stuffing her frozen hands into the pockets, the Ocean warred with herself as how to properly react to the blonde’s act of kindness.

“I feel so tacky in this.” The words had barely left her mouth before Debbie closed her eyes in embarrassment. Why couldn’t she just say ‘thank you’ like a normal person? She was just about to apologize when Lou started laughing whole-heartedly beside her.

“It certainly is a look”, her eyes wandered up and down Debbie’s frame as if to memorize that moment, “but not necessarily a bad one. Tho I wore it better.”

“No arguing from me here.”

“Well that’s new.”

“Hey!”, Debbie swatted her shoulder, but became serious again when she felt the already cold fabric of her dress shirt, “Are you sure you’re not gonna freeze to death like this?”

“Nah, I’m good. The cold never bothered me anyway.”

The Ocean practically gaped at her. “Are you quoting _Frozen_ at me? You’re actually quoting _Frozen_ at me!”

Lou didn’t even move a single muscle in her face at that. “Nobody will ever believe you. And now zip up or you’ll be cold again in three minutes.”

“You’re more chivalrous than any man I’ve ever met”, Debbie sighed defeatedly, thinking back to a lot of guys she probably should have never met.

There was that indescribable smirk again. “Even my brother?”

Now she was on thin ice again. To hell with it, she was feeling bold tonight. “Probably even him, yeah.”

“Dad will be delighted to hear that”, Lou chuckled in response.

“What do you mean?”

The blonde stopped to lean over the balustrade and watch over the river for a moment. Quietly, Debbie followed suit, wondering with passing time if Lou had frozen on the spot. After a heavy sigh, she finally turned to face her again and with the Christmas lights illuminating her eyes, it was now the Ocean’s turn to freeze. And yet, she felt warmer than before at the same time.

A lopsided grin formed on Lou’s lips as she spoke up quietly. “I don’t want to slander him, but he wasn’t that excited to have a girl back then, I guess. So he kinda raised me like he would’ve with a boy. Then came Harry and he was over the moon, but he didn’t really stop with me since I actually took to the whole thing quite well. Or rather didn’t want to be cast aside in favor for my baby brother, to be honest.”

Debbie mulled over this in silence for a while. There was no perfect response to this, was there?

“Didn’t take you to be the eager to please type.”

Well, okay, there definitely were _better_ responses than that one, though.

The blonde shrugged with a faraway expression. “I’m not, but don’t we all want to be loved in some way or another?”

Now this knocked the wind right out of her lungs. Caught in a moment of indomitable honesty, she could do nothing but reply as truthfully as her heart would allow. “I guess we do, yeah.”

There was something strange in the cold winter air, something that pulled at Debbie’s guts and made her want to spill everything right there and then. How she always had been second to Danny in her father’s eyes too, how she had played along with her father’s schemes in desperate hope to gain the same approval her brother always got thrown after him for just breathing, maybe even how she had gotten herself caught up in this mess and was reluctant to find a way out because she just wanted to belong somewhere.

Thankfully, Lou broke the moment by pushing herself off the balustrade and resuming their walk again. Still sensing there was more to the story, more to learn and to file away for later use, Debbie continued to ask in hope not to overstep.

“So you reckon Harry is the favorite child?”

If the blonde was uncomfortable with talking more about this, she didn’t show it. “Well, he was. Now it’s probably Constance.”

Debbie thought back to the dinner at the Millers’ and smiled fondly. “She has a certain charm to her, I have to admit.”

“She does, but Harry really fell from grace in our father’s book.”

Now this seemed like something she really needed to know about her maybe-future-husband. “How so?”

Lou stopped dead in her tracks. “You don’t know?”

“What should I know?”

“My God, that oaf didn’t tell you? Did you ever have a serious conversation or did you do nothing but jump each other’s bones?”

Debbie’s face turned a bright shade of pink. Yet before she could voice her indignance, the blonde continued.

“We were all part of the family business, Harry was even supposed to inherit it - don’t ask me why Dad didn’t even ask me, I don’t know - but then he decided to become a lawyer. Dad didn’t take that too well, actually, he didn’t take it at all. Any other father would’ve been thrilled if his son wanted to do law, but they had a huge fall out which led to us seeing Harry only like twice a year for some festivities, some years he didn’t even stop by for Christmas. I can’t really blame him tho, Dad can be quite difficult and even more so when he’s angry.”

“Yeah okay, I didn’t know that. That’s rough.”

“It is what it is, I guess.”

She watched Lou shrug it off, but there was something else she needed to know now. “So you’re gonna take over the business in the future?”

“Seems like it”, the blonde sighed, “The problem is just… I don’t want to. I wanted out of this for probably longer than Harry did, but he took that chance from me.”

Now that was an attitude Debbie really despised to hear. “You can still do whatever it is you wanna do!”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be allowed to set a foot in this house again when I drop out just to open a club.”

“You wanna open a club?” Okay, she hadn’t expected _that_ as alternative career choice.

“That’s what I said, wasn’t it?”, at the look on Debbie’s face at her harsh reply Lou cast her eyes downward for a moment, almost ashamed of her reaction, “I’m sorry, it’s a touchy subject.”

“I figured.”

“I’ve already rented a big warehouse and I’m currently working my way from bottom to top with the maintenance, painting, don’t get me started on the sanitary stuff - it’s a nightmare!”

It was like a switch had been flipped. Without a warning Lou had changed from broody to talking excitedly with her hands, eyes alight with a fire Debbie hadn’t seen in her until now. To be fair, she’d only met her this morning, but it somehow felt like ages already. Still, she was unable to tear her eyes off her, too keen on committing this sudden outburst to memory in case it might never return.

“You’re really serious about this, huh?” the Ocean tried to encourage her to talk more about it, her enthusiasm almost palpable. 

In the meantime, Lou had calmed down a little again, her somewhat broody front trying to get in place again, but the smile was still firm on her lips. “Yeah, I’ve been for years, but it’s only been taking form now. I could take you some time… only if you want, of course.”

Debbie tried to hide her massive grin in her scarf. “I’d like that.”

By now they had arrived at her building, she noticed to her dismay. What she also had noticed, now that she thought of it, was that she wouldn’t have spent any thought on Harry hadn’t Lou herself brought him up earlier. While she was biting her lip in contemplation and wondering what it all meant, she forgot to mention her landlord’s shitty winter road clearance.

Until the woman beside her slid and barely managed to keep her balance.

“Oh shit, be careful! It can be super slippery here in winter.”

The blonde didn’t even have to say a single word, her happiness about Debbie telling her this only now was clear on display on her face. Cautiously, she made a few testing steps.

It was to no avail, Lou’s feet buckled again under her. This time, however, the Ocean was quick enough to react and reached for her arms, trying to steady her again. It worked for a whole of four steps, until both of them slipped and an undignified struggle of keeping themselves and each other upright ensued. 

They had made it halfway to the front door and back on ice-free ground, when Lou noticed something.

“Aw shit, I think my pants just ripped!”

Once again, Debbie was sure she’d deserve an Oscar for keeping a straight face. “Your own fault wearing pants that tight, really.”

“So far you haven’t been complaining about them, have you? I know you’ve been looking.”

Of course this woman had a rebuttal for anything in any given moment. Well, she was well able to give as good as she got. “Tsk, if there has been any chance in hell that I’ve been looking, then it was only in complete bewilderment.”

“I’m pretty sure you wanted to say ‘in amazement’.”

“I don’t know what’s bigger - your cockiness, your ego, or that gigantic tear in your pants right there”, Debbie pointed out.

A frustrated whine left Lou’s lips as she bent down to inspect the damage. It was adorable how she stood there, blond strands all over the place, legs still a little unsure on the slippery ground, and a look in her eyes like somebody had just broken her favorite toy right in front of her face. Debbie never would’ve thought she’d describe Lou Miller, the woman who had made the whole day even more difficult for her with her steady stream of questions, smug grin, and leather-clad legs, as anything but exhausting, let alone adorable.

Sighing in defeat, Lou let her arms fall to her sides. “Any chance you got some spare pants I can borrow?”

“For those lanky legs?”, she laughed, “You’re like a flagpole, the only thing I could offer you is a skirt, maybe.”

“Thanks, I’d rather walk back naked.”

Shaking her head, Debbie handed her her coat back. “Now this’d be a sight to see.”

“Thought you’d like it.”

Trying not to get too visibly flustered at the blonde’s wink and the images in her head, the Ocean made her way to the door. “I’d like some sleep even more now, so…”, she could barely contain a smile at a still mildly distraught Lou, “Thanks for walking me home, I guess.”

Mesmerized, she watched as the blonde’s expression shifted to something genuine and soft. “It was my pleasure - well, apart from my torn pants. I really could’ve done without that.”

Beats of silence passed between them, neither one quite sure how to say goodbye and walk away, but smiles still firm on their faces. At last, Debbie took all of her willpower and opened the front door, a quiet _see you soon_ falling from her lips and onto the steps for Lou to pick up as she headed inside.

Just as she was bounding up the stairs, Claude appeared from his parents’ flat with an angry frown.

“You have to decide! Me or her?!”

Debbie didn’t even turn around when she shouted back at him without a microsecond of hesitation “Her!”

Single-mindedly, she whacked the door closed behind her and immediately made a beeline for her living room window. Propping her head up in her hands, she watched as Lou walked away - or rather waddled due to her pants situation - and grinned into her scarf. Only when the blonde had finally disappeared around the corner, she realized two things: a) she hadn’t even taken off her jacket and scarf that set on catching the last glimpses of Lou she had been, and b) while it was valid to choose anyone over Claude, how did he even come up with the idea to pit Lou against himself? What in god’s name made him think that there was something between them?

Groaning, she rubbed her face with her hands until it was pink, and finally took her time to peel out of her winter clothes and survey her flat for any potential damage Claude could’ve left behind in his wake. To her great surprise, nothing seemed amiss, even her lingerie drawer seemed complete at first and second glance. She would take her victories where she could. 

While her last TV dinner was doing its rounds in the microwave, she picked up her phone.

_\- u back, right?_

In an act of technological solidarity, both the microwave and the phone beeped at the same time.

_\- back in the city and miffed I didn’t get the livestream you promised >:(_

Before she could reply - she was busy rolling her eyes for good measure - another text followed.

_\- coffee tmrw, time n place as usual?_

Now _that_ was what she wanted to hear.

~~~

Making her way through the throng of people crowding up in the small café with her more than full coffee cup in one and her purse in the other hand, Debbie was relieved to finally spot her friend in a far off corner. “Tammyyyyyyy!”

The blonde got up to hug her, her face a mix between amusement and skepticism. “Oh god, Ocean, don’t tell me you managed to make it even worse.”

“Okay, I’ll take my coffee to go then.”

Rolling her eyes, Tammy held her by the arm as she pretended to turn around and leave again. “Sit your ass down and don’t play smart with me, we both know now more than ever that you’re a ginormous idiot.” 

“I wouldn’t go that far” Debbie grumbled.

“Well, I do. So spit it out, what have I missed?”

The Ocean gave herself a silent pep talk and began: “As you so clearly put it, I might have made it worse. Or well, not _made_ per se, it’s nothing I can control, I-”

Groaning, Tammy put her mug down. “For god’s sake, just cut to the chase!”

“IthinkI’mfallinginlovewithHarry’ssister”, she rushed the words out, hoping her friend would understand.

“Pardon?”

“I know you understood me the first time”, Debbie whined, “Do I really have to spell it out?”

“Yes.”

“You’re enjoying this.”

Tammy leaned back in her seat, arms crossed over her chest and an infuriating grin firm in place. “You have no idea. So, c’mon, one more time, with feeling.”

Debbie shot her a last scathing look before admitting (again), “I think I’m falling in love with Harry’s sister.”

“Color me surprised”, the blonde deadpanned.

“Sorry, forgot my black crayons at home.”

“Only brought pink and rose-colored ones?”

She really hated how Tammy managed to press her buttons with a precision only rivalled by her own brother’s. “Why do I even put up with you?”

“Right back at ya, but also cos you got no one else to call you out on your bullshit and you need that every once in a while”, when the Ocean looked disgruntledly out of the window but stayed otherwise silent, she continued, “so, how did that happen now?”

Draining half of her coffee in one go, Debbie steeled herself for the inevitable recount of the last twenty-four hours. After what felt like an eternity - she didn’t spare any detail and then some - she all but fell back in her chair, the rest of her coffee almost cold.

Observing her quietly for a minute, Tammy finally spoke her verdict. “You don’t do things by halves, do you now.”

The Ocean scoffed. “Usually I’d reply with ‘now where’d be the fun in that’ but there isn’t any fun in this, either.”

“I can imagine. But it doesn’t seem all that bad considering how you start smiling as soon as you talk about Lou. Oh don’t look at me like that, you can fool yourself but not me, she totally got to you.”

If they weren’t in public, Debbie would lay her head down on the table. “Which only makes everything more complicated. She will hate me once the truth comes out.”

“The longer you keep this up, the higher the chances of that, yeah.”

“Isn’t it you job as best friend to build me up and tell me everything’s gonna be okay?”

“Only if the situation warrants it”, the blonde rolled her eyes for good measure, “Right now, however, you need to hear the ugly truth and be confronted with the potential consequences of your actions.” 

“This is not how this meeting was supposed to go”, Debbie almost pouted.

“You can’t tell me anything about your past few days went like it was supposed to, otherwise you wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.”

“Touché.”

She was just about to go into another round of whining about the unfairness of life and the universe, when her phone buzzed in her purse. Usually she wouldn’t bother with it when she was out with Tammy, but something told her she should check right away.

As she read the message on her phone twice over, a contradicting mix of joy and weariness was making a mess of her insides. And of her face too, apparently.

“You look like your brother just came back from the dead.”

Debbie shook herself at the thought. “Oh god, wouldn’t that take the cake now?”

“So what is it then?”

“Linda just invited me to dinner tonight.”

“And Linda was…?”, Tammy prompted, having lost track of all the new names and people of the recent days.

“Misses Miller, Lou and Harry’s mother.”

“And let me guess, you will go but won’t take this as an opportunity to come clean to them.”

A pained expression took hold of the Ocean’s face. “Tammy, I just can’t. It would break everyone’s hearts, mine included.”

“Sure, do what makes you happy, but…”, the blonde paused with a pointed look, gesticulating, “What will you do if Harry wakes up one day? I mean, it could happen any time in theory, right?”

Groaning, Debbie buried her face in her hands. “I don’t know, I really don’t. I’ve been wrecking my brain about that every night and haven’t come up with a solution that’ll make everyone happy. And now there’s- there’s that thing with Lou, whatever it is or could be, and… I feel like I’m at my wit’s end.”

“Phew, don’t say that too loudly or your father will start rotating in his grave. He so wouldn’t approve of that attitude.”

“Not approving of anything I do kinda was one of his prominent character traits, so that doesn’t count.”

Tammy huffed in annoyance. “It’s a shame I never got to have a word with him.”

“Be glad you only met him this once”, searching for a way to change the topic, Debbie looked at her phone again, “so, still a few hours until dinner, how about an Irish coffee minus the cream and coffee?”

With Tammy opposite her and shaking her head fondly at her, she could at least pretend that it was just another regular Friday, that there wasn’t more at stake than ever before in her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think!
> 
> And if you got any ideas, suggestions, whatnot, you can always hmu on tumblr (@how-to-sit-gay) too! <3


	4. The one with revelations and rumors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Maybe you can find me a nice girl for Lou.”
> 
> The suggestion came out of the blue, leaving Debbie almost choking on her broccoli, only the pressure of suddenly having at least three pairs of eyes on her keeping her from spitting it over the table in surprise. Deliberately taking her time to finish chewing, she earned herself some much needed seconds to plaster a smile on her face and come up with an adequate answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 75 year End-of-WWII anniversary! 
> 
> (What a way to start a fic chapter)
> 
> It's perfect weather in my city, just the right temperature to run around outside and get shit done, I managed to get a tattoo appointment for 3 tats at the end of the month (both the artist and I did a double take when checking her calendar), my weeks are filling up with other appointments, or in short: life is good.
> 
> By the end of the chapter we're 63 minutes into the 100 minutes long movie, so... still some time to go.

Dinner was in almost full swing when Debbie finally arrived, storming past Pete accompanied with a cold gust of air.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry! All the trains were delayed for whatever reason, but of course always, like, one minute too much for me to catch the next one and- ugh!”

Smiling, he took her coat off her. “Don’t worry, dear, just sit down, we haven’t really started yet anyway.”

“I can see the half-empty plates from here”, she laughed, “but I appreciate the sentiment.”

Shrugging good-naturedly, he turned to the dining room, speaking to no-one in particular. “Can’t say I didn’t try, but the lady is just too clever for her own good.”

Sitting down at last (and maybe sharing a somewhat shy smile with Lou opposite her), Linda patted her hand reassuringly. “Next time Lou will pick you up, just to be sure.”

“Are you my personal manager now?”

“Don’t talk to your mother like that!”

Lou rolled her eyes at her father after shooting the Ocean a silent ‘ _ can you believe this’ _ look. “What? I’ll gladly pick her up, but I’d also like to decide for myself, thank you very much.”

Pete shook his head as if to say ‘ _ young people these days _ ’ digged into the heap mashed potatoes on his plate, while Linda took the whole ordeal in stride. Clearly she was more than used to Lou’s unruly side. An image of a teenage version of the blonde popped up in Debbie’s mind, all wild hair and gangly limbs, and nothing but swear words and protests on her lips. The Ocean quickly took a sip from her wine to hide the smile threatening to form on her lips.

Gradually, the idle chatter at the table returned to the way it had been before Debbie had interrupted them with her late arrival. The clattering of cutlery on porcelain combined with the sound familiar voices filling the room lulled her in, giving her a feeling of comfort she hadn’t known existed.

Still, when the volume at the left side of the table to her increased, she couldn’t help but shoot the women around her a questioning look.

“They’ve been having that discussion for, like, hours now”, Constance rolled her eyes for good measure, “something about whether some celebrities are actually attractive or ‘just’ tall.”

“Please tell me you’re not serious.”

Linda made a face full with unspoken suffering. “Oh she is, unfortunately.”

Just this moment, the arguing grew more heated, and Daisy threw a ridiculous but good-natured insult at Pete, who in return started whining about how oppressed he felt as the only man in the house.

Debbie felt laughter rising in her throat but since she was unsure as if it was an appropriate reaction, she glanced around the table for any signals. At last, her eyes got caught up on Lou (which wasn’t exactly new) who just covered her face in her hands and groaned at the behavior of her family. 

Her laughter broke free at that, earning herself mock-offended looks from the three squabblers. 

“Sorry, couldn’t help myself”, Debbie conceded once she caught her breath again, I’m not used to this squabbling.”

Linda tutted. “Don’t ever apologize for something like that. It’s only fair to laugh at their expense, God knows they deserve it.”

Loud protests and visible indignation came from the three culprits, however Debbie got too caught up in the tentative smile Lou was casting her.

“Told you laughing suits you.”

Blushing, she turned to Pete, Rose and Daisy to gauge if they weren’t actually angry with her, she found them talking vividly among each other once again. Apparently they still hadn't settled on an agreement and were determined to keep this up for as long as it took someone to finally back down and admit defeat.

With them engrossed in their ridiculous conversation once again, Linda looked thoughtfully from her two daughters on one side to Debbie on the other.

“Maybe you can find me a nice girl for Lou.”

The suggestion came out of the blue, leaving Debbie almost choking on her broccoli, only the pressure of suddenly having at least three pairs of eyes on her keeping her from spitting it over the table in surprise. Deliberately taking her time to finish chewing, she earned herself some much needed seconds to plaster a smile on her face and come up with an adequate answer.

“I don’t even know her type.”

“Blondes”, came the instant and vehement reply from the woman in question, suddenly very interested in her plate and not even bothering to finish swallowing.

Debbie was feeling a pang of disappointment flooding her veins - had she imagined that weird tension between them, had she read too much into it? -, as Constance piped up, brows set in confusion.

“But it’s brunettes, I’ve only ever seen you with brunettes.”

“That’s the past, kid, I plan to learn from my mistakes”, the blonde hissed through gritted teeth, “And now shush and eat your veggies.”

Wiping her mouth with a napkin, she tried to hide of short she was of laughing out loud at how ready Lou seemed to throttle her sister right there and then. However, the warning glance the blonde was shooting her went completely over Constance’s head.

“Don’t treat me like I’m seven or something.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll always be at least eight in my mind.” With that, Lou pulled her beanie down over her nose, the girl protesting loudly the treatment.

At last, Linda had seen and heard enough. “Girls, please. And Constance, I’ve told you to take that hat off at the table.”

“It’s a beanie!”

“Yeah, Mom, it’s a beanie!” Lou joined in.

Immediately knowing she was being mocked, Constance boxed her sister’s shoulder whereas Linda, thinking the blonde was taking the girl’s side, groaned in exasperation. And in the midst of it all was Lou, absolutely satisfied with the little chaos she had caused, looking directly at Debbie and giving her a cheeky grin. It was a delight to watch their dynamics and them bounce off each other.

For a moment, Debbie was catapulted back twenty years. Had it been like this at the Ocean’s dinner table, too? She couldn’t remember, but she doubted it. Frank Ocean was known for running a right ship, not only during his cons but also at home; there was no way he’d let his children bicker and fight like that at the table. 

There was that instant pang in her chest again that always flared up once she started thinking of her childhood or family in general. One day, she might have that checked out by a professional.

She was so engrossed in her own thoughts, she almost yelped when she felt something touch her foot.

“If you wanna spend some time alone with that roastbeef, I can show you to Harry’s old room.”

So she’d been caught staring for god knows how long. Feeling the tips of her ears heat up from embarrassment as three pairs of eyes were focused on her (again!), the Ocean tried to cover up as best as she could. 

"Thanks, but I think the broccoli might get jealous and that could get nasty. Nobody wants that."

Her plan to deflect with humor worked perfectly, amused laughter filling the air around her as everybody went back to dig into their food. Everybody but one, of course. 

Lou still had her foot pressed against hers, nudging lightly to grasp her attention once again. 

_ 'Are you okay? _ ', the blonde mouthed silently, worry clear in her blue eyes. 

Touched at the gesture, Debbie pressed back under the table, giving her a soundless  _ 'of course' _ in return. 

They held eye contact a moment longer, each trying to gauge the genuity in the other’s words, until finally Lou got caught up in a conversation with Rose from the other end of the table.

Slowly, her foot moved away as well, leaving Debbie with an irrational cold feeling where their shoes had touched. 

~~~

“And you’re absolutely sure Lou shouldn’t drive you?”

“Yes, I’m still sure, one hundred percent positive”, she replied for the what felt like the twenty-fourth time that night. As much as she liked said woman’s company, sitting opposite her the whole evening and looking into those unfathomable blues had stirred up so many things she now needed to wrap her head around - in silence and alone. 

“I decide to not that take personally”, Lou joked while opening the door for her, yet her face gave nothing away of how she actually felt.

Debbie looked pointedly from her to the door, failing to hide a grin. “It isn’t as long as this isn’t your way of showing you want me gone.”

“Why would I ever want that?”

It was spoken so quietly that the Ocean was sure the others hadn’t heard, that it had been for her ears only. Catching the blonde’s eyes again, she felt the air grow heavy between them. In movies, this was the moment the music started and swelled, and the protagonists would lean in, sharing that one kiss the audience had been waiting for for at least an hour.

Maybe it would’ve happened that way if a certain girl hadn’t pointed out something for the whole family to hear.

“Look, they’re standing under the mistletoe!”

She didn’t dare looking up to see if it was true, the delighted noises of the other family members were confirmation enough. Now, Debbie could understand clearly how the blonde had felt like murdering her sister previously. She really had a knack for pointing out the wrong things at the wrong time. Was it a teenager thing?

With an unfamiliar shyness, she dared to risk a glance at Lou to gauge her reaction. Thankfully, she found the same awkwardness in her face she was feeling herself - at least they were on the same page here. Simultaneously she tried to beat that nagging part of herself that felt slightly bummed out at the blonde’s reaction back with a broomstick.

“Come on, give each other a kiss!”

Uncomfortably, the two women looked at each other and made no effort to comply.

“Stop being babies about it, just a little smooch!”

Before the Millers could start chanting at them, Debbie started to openly protest.

“Why are you so dead set on it, I’m engaged to her brother! Isn’t this”, she gesticulated wildly from the mistletoe to Lou to everyone around, “a bit weird?”

“Aw c’mon, Debbie, it’s just a mistletoe kiss, it’s tradition! Don’t tell me you’ve never done this before.”

“In fact I haven’t.”

Looking at the quite shocked expressions she received at the admission, she hoped that maybe they’d all lay off them now, but then the woman beside her spoke up again, resignation written all over her features.

“Let’s just get it over with, the draft is freezing my legs off. There are worse people to lose your mistletoe virginity too, I promise.”

Debbie swallowed hard. Was this really about to happen? When she’d imagined their first kiss - which she totally hadn’t! - it clearly hadn’t been forced upon them by a questionable tradition and egged on by the blonde’s family. 

She searched the blonde’s eyes for any sign of doubt, but did only find a front of indifference so well put into place it was obvious to her that there had to be something important behind it. The impulse to ruffle Lou’s feathers for any kind of reaction was so strong, however there were other matters to address first now.

Raising her own walls of indifference, she fully turned to the woman opposite her. “I guess I really could do worse. And it stays in the family no less.”

“Just the thing a gal likes to hear before getting kissed.”

“Wouldn’t you know.”

During their whole exchange, their faces had drifted closer and closer still, the tension between them peaking once again. And then-

it was over.

A short and awkward touch of lips, separating as quickly at they had met, and the Ocean turned to the still watching family again refusing to look Lou into the eyes of fear what she might find there.

“Everybody happy now?”

Grandma Daisy shook her head.“That was the most disappointing kiss I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot in my years.”

_ Good _ . It had been an enormous disappointment for her too, why should they feel better about it than she did.

Lou was equally impressed with their reactions. “I’d love so say that this is a new record for me in disappointing as many people as possible simultaneously, but I don’t think it is.”

“I wouldn’t stress about it, your big moment will come in no time, I’m sure”, the Ocean couldn’t help but deadpan back, patting her arm faux-reassuringly as she moved past her to - finally! - head out the door.

She was held back unexpectedly with a firm grip on her hand. Completely surprised, her eyes wandered up all the way from the blonde’s arm to her questioning eyes.

“We good?”

It was spoken quietly, on the edge of inaudible, still Debbie could hear the worry in her low voice as if she’d been shouting at her.

Casting her a soft smile and reassuring nod in return, she reluctantly shook off Lou’s warm hand and stepped down the patio.

Debbie didn’t dare to do anything but keep on walking for as long as she didn’t hear the door closing behind her - which took ages. That and the burning feeling in the back of her neck told her that the blonde had lingered in the doorway and had been watching her for quite a while. A blush spread from her neck up to her cheeks, fighting off the winter’s cold with a vengeance.

The kiss had been brief, fast, and far from romantic, but still there had been this slight tingle, a small spark jumping between them. If she thought about it really hard, she could still feel a buzz spreading from her lips through her whole body.

It was difficult to wrap her head around the whole thing, not to mention the impending worries about how this might have changed their whole dynamic - she didn’t dare calling it a relationship of any kind yet -, and not necessarily for the better. 

Sure, Lou had indirectly asked her if they were still alright and that nothing had changed, but Debbie was unable to tune out that nagging feeling in the back of her head. If you’d ask her, she probably had already been overthinking in the womb, making a pro and con list about being born and facing the world outside. 

Feeling the cold of the subway station set seep through her clothes, Debbie did something she knew she’d probably regret very soon. Once she managed to fish her phone out of her purse, she started typing away.

_ \- we kissed _

Accidentally, she hit enter before she could finish her sentence. Quickly, she began hacking on the screen to tell Tammy there was no reason to overreact as it was only a mistletoe-induced incident, the phone started to vibrate wildly in her hand, said woman’s name shining back at her. 

So much for having a quiet ride home.

~~~~

“And 76 cents for you, Sir. Have a nice day!”

Without blinking, Debbie slipped the man’s watch off his wrist and into her sleeve. Served him right for just barking his order at her without any kind of greeting or please. When he was well out of sight and no other customer approached, she flung her bounty onto the heap of stolen goods beside her right foot. On a second glance, she decided to bend down and inspect today’s winnings, seeing if she’d need to steal some more to buy herself that cute dress she’d seen two days prior.

“Hello, can I get a Snickers, please?”

The voice came so out of the blue that the Ocean almost bumped her head on the serving desk when she immediately shot up. 

“Constance, hi! What’re you doing here?”

“Just passing by, actually. This is my bestie, Nine Ball”, when she noticed Debbie’s confused look, she leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, “her actual name is Leslie, but I’m only allowed to call her that like once a month, she’s weird like that.”

“And you just used up your free pass for December”, came the other girls gruff reply after waving hi to Debbie.

“It’s almost over anyway. So…”, Constance looked at her potential sister-in-law expectantly, “I reaaaaaaaally want a Snickers now.”

Copying her demeanor, Debbie leaned forward as well. “Tell you what… you wanna come in and grab that Snickers - or something more - yourself?”

At the suggestion to literally become a kid in a candy store, the girl’s eyes lit up. “Sick!”

The girls filed in, and before they had even closed the door behind themselves, Constance had already filled her pockets to the brim with any kind of sugary treat she could find. 

Eyebrows raised high, Debbie looked pointedly at the girl. “Constance… When I said ‘something more’ I didn’t mean two of everything we have in store, you’re not Noah”, she admonished, “Each of you can take three candies of your choice. Y’know otherwise I’d have to come up with a credible story of how there’s fifty percent of the stock missing but there’s no money in the bank.”

“Fiiiine”, Constance conceded, turning her pockets inside out and letting everything clatter to the floor.

Even Nine Ball couldn’t help but roll her eyes at her friend’s behavior and started picking things up again before the Ocean could say anything. Once she gave Constance a slap on the thigh, she bend down to join her at last. That’s how something else caught her eye.

“And what’s the credible story for this?”

When Debbie saw what the girl was pointing at, she froze. She had been that surprised to see the two girls, that she had completely forgotten to kick her stolen goods pile out of sight. 

“That’s just stuff people put on the counter and then forgot. Keeping it here in case they come back and look for it.” Well. If that wasn’t the weakest excuse she’s ever heard.

Of course Constance didn’t believe her. “Yeah sure, cos like five people take off their watch to pay.”

Before the Ocean could make it any worse for herself, Nine Ball pulled a laptop out of her backpack and started typing away. “Yo, what did ya say her name was?”

While the two girls started chatting and hammering away on the computer, Debbie closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see her whole life flash before them. This was it, this was the moment she’d be completely made and everything would turn to dust.

“You’re Danny Ocean’s sister, Frank Ocean’s daughter.” It wasn’t a question but a statement. Yet to Debbie it felt like an accusation. 

“Wait, who are they?”

Catching Nine Ball’s eyes over the rim of her laptop, she pleaded silently for her not to tell her, to leave Constance in ignorant bliss, but the girl just looked at her with an unreadable expression.

“Remember like ten years back when there was that real big casino robbery in Vegas? That was her brother. The Oceans are one of the most famous and successful con-men in the States.”

And there it was, wide out in the open. 

“That true?”, Constance turned to her, eyes wide and filled with… awe?, “Dude, that’s so cool!”

“I can explai- what?”

“Can you teach me some tricks? I’m already quite alright at pickpocketing but you know so much more than I do!”

“What?!”

It was a rare occasion, but Debbie truly was at a loss for words. Helplessly, she looked at Nine Ball in hope she could make sense of any of this. However, she had other ideas.

“But why is an Ocean sitting in a shitty lil booth like this and doing cheap tricks even Constance can do?”

Damn, that girl was savage. Her pride taken a hit, Debbie grumbled. “Long story, no time to tell it”, she fixed Constance with an intense stare, “and no telling from your side to anyone either. I’d like to explain this myself when the time’s right, okay? Otherwise I’m gonna bust you to Linda for that wallet in your pocket which is definitely not yours.”

Shocked, the girl went white while her friend clapped her laptop shut with a throaty laugh. “Oh, she gooood!”

While Debbie wanted nothing more than to interview her sister-in-law about her own criminal activities, her attention was drawn back to the counter.

“Debbie! Merry belated Christmas! I haven’t seen you in ages!”

The Ocean couldn’t help the smile spreading on her face. “Amita! So good to see you, how’s everything?”

“Oh y’know, same old. My sister is still perfect, my mom is still nagging, my dad is still dead”, then the Indian woman noticed the two girls in the back, “Oh, you got company?”

She really had hoped her friend wouldn’t notice. “Yeah, that-”

“Hi! I’m her sister-in-law, or, well, to-be, she’s gonna marry my brother!”

Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth for good measure, Debbie took two deep breaths before she could ram that forsaken Snickers down Constance’s throat. This girl had a gift to say things at the worst possible moment, she could see that very clearly now.

Of course Amita latched onto that brand new information. “Oh my god, I didn’t know you were engaged, let alone have a boyfriend! Please let me do the rings, please!”

Plastering on a smile, the Ocean desperately tried to downplay the whole thing. “We haven’t seen each other in months, have we? It happened all quite quickly, to be honest”, she turned to the two girls in the back, “Ladies, I don’t wanna be rude, but I think it’s time I kick you out, customers are coming.”

“Sure thing, D!”, grabbing her backpack and Nine Ball’s sleeve, she made for the door, “see ya!”

Shaking her head and without turning away from Amita, Debbie addressed Constance one last time. “Put that gobstopper back, don’t think I didn’t see you taking it. Three items.”

Groaning at being caught, the girl put it back reluctantly before pulling the door closed behind her.

Amita was quick to pick up their conversation. “Wow, okay, but you’re not pregnant, are you?”

“Why keeps everybody asking that? Yeah sure, I’m pregnant”, when her friend’s face immediately lit up like a Christmas tree, she realized her sarcasm hadn’t made it through, “No, I’m not, calm down please. Last time I checked you needed to have sex to get pregnant.”

Amita’s face fell before it scrunched up in confusion. “But you’re engaged.”

“We’re waiting till after the wedding.” Absentmindedly, she waved the girls in the distance goodbye.

An incredulous snort. “As if. Tell me a different lie and see if I believe it.”

Covering her face with her hands, Debbie groaned. That was the problem in being friends with other criminals, they’re all way too perceptive. 

“Due to a misunderstanding this family thinks that I’m the financée to their son slash brother slash grandson slash godson who is currently in a coma.”

Silence stretched between them and you could hear the figurative crickets chirping as Amita scrutinized her for a long minute. 

“Are you trying that ‘saying something so abstruse that the other thinks you’re no way lying cos no one would come up with a lie that unbelievable’ shit on me? If so, it’s almost working.”

“Unfortunately it’s the truth and nothing but the truth.”

“So what’s in it for you, are they rich? Some valuable family heirlooms lying around?” Amita tried to make sense of it.

“No, nothing of the sort. But I also can’t bring myself to get out of this… I actually like those people”, the Ocean had to admit, her family pride screaming at her. And then there was Lou, who she apparently liked a bit more than the rest.

“Well, how could you be so stupid?”

“Tammy’d be delighted to have a day-filling conversation about my stupidity with you.”

“I need to catch up with her anyway, see if she got something for me”, Amita shrugged as if this was just another point to add to her agenda.

Debbie waved her off. “Don’t expect too much, now that she’s got her boyfriend she’s trying to go straight.”

“Don’t worry, you set the bar quite low already.”

“Wow, rude.”

Amita patted her hand. “Aw don’t cry, I’ll make it up to you. New Year’s Eve party at mine, how’s that sound?”

“There will be alcohol.” It wasn’t a question.

“Duh”, she rolled her eyes,” I’ll text you the details later, I really gotta run now.”

“Sure thing, go get those jewels, baby!”

With a last laugh and wink, her friend went and left her to face the remaining two hours and nineteen minutes of her shift alone.

~~~

It really had been quite some time since she had been out socialising, Debbie figured as she regarded the mess she had made of her flat trying to find an appropriate outfit for the night. Picking up the discarded pieces of clothing from the floor one by one, she shook her head at herself. It was only at Amita’s, she knew what kind of people were there, she knew Tammy would come too, there was no reason to fuss about it as much as she did.

She regarded herself one last time in the mirror before she grabbed her shoes. Just as she had flopped down onto the sofa to tie them up, there was a fierce knocking on her door. In the past weeks there had been more people at her door than in the whole previous fifty-one weeks prior combined.

Only after tying up the first boot, she shouted from the sofa “Who is it?”

“Claude Junior!”

A quiet whine escaped her. Of all people, of course it had to be him. “I’m not here!”, she replied with as knee-jerk reaction, then winced at herself.

There was a beat of silence before Claude finally responded. “I know that trick, you can only fool me once!”

Debbie couldn’t help but snort as she remembered that first time it had actually worked. After tying up the second shoe, she made her way to the door just as he set up for the final blow.

“You know my Dad got a set of keys.”

She tore the door open with enough force to make him jump back a bit, exasperated expression firm in place. “That’s illegal and you know it, Claude!”

In lieu of replying, he held out a bouquet of flowers big enough to cover his whole head and torso from Debbie’s perspective. She tried to push the mean part of herself that was immediately thinking she could get used to having this view instead of his face away before she voiced that thought out loud.

Instead she opted for an equally honest “They’re beautiful!”, seeing hope bloom up in his eyes, she quickly added, “You know I can’t accept that.”

“I can move in here, Dad could knock fifty bucks off your rent…”

For a moment, the Ocean was taken back by the full on display of puppy eyes in front of her - who knew macho par excellence Claude Becker Jr. was capable of such a thing. He was really going all in now. Still, she had to put her foot down.

“I only got six months left to live.”

Claude looked at her for two long seconds over the top of the bouquet, then he deflated visibly, hanging equally his head and the flowers. “You’re trying to let me down easy, right?”, before Debbie had a chance to reply, he went on, pouting, “It’s that woman, innit?”

Now, that was hitting a bit too close to home. “What do you mean?”

He gave her a look that practically screamed  _ ‘I’m not  _ that _ stupid _ ’. “I see the way you look at her.”

“Wh-what?.. How do I look at her?” Debbie sputtered.

“Like you’ve just seen your first diamond ring.”

It was hard to come up with something against that. For one it was true, and for two she was still flabbergasted at how perceptive Claude could actually be. Most people wouldn’t even have as much as blinked at two women throwing each other meaningful glances, gals being pals and all that.

“Here, take ‘em. You can lay ‘em on my coffin.”

Rolling her eyes good-naturedly, she finally took the flowers from him. “You’re such a drama queen.”

“But”, he raised his finger triumphantly, “I’m a queen!” he pointed out grinning and flicked his imaginary hair behind him, chest puffed out proudly as he all but strut down the stairs.

For a moment, Debbie could do nothing more than to stare after him. Wondering how she would ever be able to erase that image from her retina, she shook her head for good measure and went back inside to put the flowers into a vase. They actually were too beautiful to not keep them alive for as long as possible.

When she finally made her way downstairs and outside, with a warmer coat this time - she was well able to learn from past mistakes - she noticed a familiar figure pacing up and down the pavement. Apparently, she had learnt from her own mistake as well and was sporting some sort of combat boots this time.

“Lou! What are you doing here?”

Judging by the way she froze on the spot and her head snapped up, the blonde clearly hadn’t heard her approaching. To Debbie’s amusement, she seemed quite flustered. This was a new one.

“Oh, hey! I.. I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d say hi.”

Debbie coolly raised an eyebrow, showing the blonde that she knew as well as she did that this was a lame excuse. In response, she quickly tried to change the subject and pointed at the Ocean’s outfit which was peeking out from her still open coat.

“You’re going somewhere?”

“Yeah, New Year’s Eve party at a friend of mine’s.”

Lou sprung into action at that, opening the passenger door. “I’ll drive you.”

“It’s not that far, just a few blocks down.”

“Still, would be kinda rude to let a lady walk when I can just take her.”

If Lou was aware of her dubious choice of words, she didn’t show it. Taking a deep breath to suppress the unwanted images in her head and the physical reaction that came with them, the Ocean finally gave in and let herself be ushered into the truck.

Feeling the by now familiar thrumming of the car under her and taking some sort of comfort in it, she decided to address the big pink elephant in the car. “Is everything okay?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t it be?”

“You’re acting weird.”

“I’m not acting weird!”

Since Lou was now walking up Amita’s driveway with her and showing no intention of going away, Debbie decided to brave herself for the worst and bit the bullet. “Is it because of the mistletoe?”

Something flitted past the blonde’s eyes, but it was gone too quickly to put a finger on it. Yet, instead of denying it, she just changed the subject,  _ again _ .

“So, what about Harry?” If Lou had been aiming for nonchalance, she totally failed. 

In turn, Debbie was more than confused by now. “Harry? What about him?”

“Harry’s gonna have a lot do deal with when he wakes up.”

Before she could inquiry further what the blonde meant by that, the door swung open to Amita who was covered from head to toe with various glittery items, her face lighting up at seeing the Ocean. The subsequent mischief in her friend’s eyes after spotting her company however warranted nothing good.

Quickly, Debbie wanted to demonstratively say her goodbyes to Lou, but Amita clearly had other ideas as she pulled them both into the house.

Immediately, she caught Tammy’s eye over the mass of people. When her friend noticed she hadn’t come alone, she rewarded her with a raised eyebrow and a pointed look in Lou’s direction. Sighing deeply, the Ocean fought her way over and left Lou to fend on her own, served her right for following her without being asked.

“So that’s her?” Tammy whistled quietly through her teeth, “Gotta admit, if I had any interest in women, I’d tap that.”

Debbie swatted her arm. “Down, girl.”

“Ooooh, jealous?”

Her face scrunched up in annoyance. “I need at least two drinks before I’m ready to talk to you again.”

Leaving a more than amused Tammy behind, Debbie made her way to the makeshift bar in the middle of the room. Taking in the broad variety of different drinks and liquors, she finally settled on a classic: punch. Just as a starter, of course, the night would probably lead her to harder stuff soon enough.

Just as she was about to take the first sip, Lou sidled up to her.

“It’s spiked.”

“And thank God for that!” 

A hand on her wrist stopped her from drinking. “You shouldn’t have that.”

“Why?” How she loved being told what to and what not to do.

Lou looked at her as if she had dropped seventy IQ points just by asking. “Cos it’s not good for the baby!”

Of course the song had to change in exactly this moment, resulting in a deadly silence and all eyes on them. Of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone who has watched the movie more than once knows what will happen in the next chapter, so buckle up :D
> 
> And tell me how you liked it, of course... the more response, the more motivation! <3


	5. The one with things getting completely out of control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A pained expression spread on Lou’s face at the Ocean’s lack of understanding. “No, no, hugging is one thing, leaning is completely different. Hugging involves arms, maybe shoulders, but leaning involves the whole body. It’s entering each other’s space, it’s wanting and accepting”, with every word Lou had moved closer to her, giving her a demonstration of what she meant, a somewhat predatory glint in her eyes, “like this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaaaaand here we are again!
> 
> Let me just warn you, I deviated from the original script a teeny tinesy lil bit - but you'll love me for it, I'm sure :D
> 
> Also some might have spotted that I changed the max chapters from ? to 7. I don't know how it'll end yet, I don't even know if No. 7 will be a full chapter or just an epilogue, you'll be surprised just the same as I'll be. Completely level playing ground here, wow.
> 
> A very small heads-up tho: while I managed to stick with an 11 days updating rhythm so far, the next one might take 14 days or something... friends have invited themselves over in an act of gym tourism (my gym is open, theirs isn't) so that might delay stuff a bit.
> 
> Alas, enough of that.. have fun with the most recent developments ;)

Her coat draped haphazardly around her shoulders, Debbie briskly walked down the sidewalk, wanting nothing more than to bury her face in her pillow and the old year with all its troubles with it.

“I admit, this could’ve gone a bit smoother…”, rang a voice behind her, the voice of the person she’d especially like to bury right there and then.

“Don’t phrase it like that, I refuse to take any responsibility in this!”

“Come on, Debbie, slow down!” She could almost hear Lou rolling her eyes, which only spurred her on to move faster.

However, she had completely forgotten about the blonde’s impossibly long legs, and she finally caught up with the Ocean right at the precipice of her building grounds. Not only that, she also put herself between her and the way to the front door. Debbie’s own four walls were close, and yet so far.

Lou sucked in a few cool breaths, her cheeks rosy from both their chase and the cold. “I’m sorry, there’s been a bunch of misunderstandings happening, I guess.”

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Debbie was determined to not let herself be distracted by the tousled - and very much attractive like that - woman standing in her way. “Misunderstandings? Like what?”

“Well, there’s this whole Claude Junior thing..”, the blonde started sheepishly, just short of actually shuffling her boot on the semi-frozen ground, but Debbie had already heard enough.

“The Claude Junior thing?”, she threw her hands up in exasperation, “I’m not romantically involved with him, or involved in any way, I thought we had that covered already!”

The blonde shrugged. “We did, but then I saw you  _ lean _ and…”, she trailed off, letting the words hang unspoken between them.

What the hell was she talking about? What was it tonight that this woman wasn’t making any sense? “Lean? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Lou made some semi-awkward gestures, trying to get her point across. “You leaned, c’mon, you know what I mean!”

“I really don’t, I think you’re making this all up to somehow save our neck. If anything, Claude and I may have hugged at some point.”

A pained expression spread on Lou’s face at the Ocean’s lack of understanding. “No, no, hugging is one thing, leaning is completely different. Hugging involves arms, maybe shoulders, but leaning involves the whole body. It’s entering each other’s space, it’s wanting and accepting”, with every word Lou had moved closer to her, giving her a demonstration of what she meant, a somewhat predatory glint in her eyes, “like  _ this _ .”

By now they were so close, Debbie could feel the blonde’s breath tickling her face and her body heat radiating off her. If there had been any kind of tension between them back at the Miller’s under the mistletoe, it had nothing on the way the air seemed to crackle between them right this moment.

With each passing second they stayed like this, the Ocean’s anger evaporated a little more, leaving an entirely different heat in its place. She noticed Lou’s eyes drifting from her eyes to her lips, questioning, and she was ready to just give in, to close that final distance and make everything even more complicated. Letting all rational thought and reason go, she closed her eyes--

“Debbie! Is she bothering you?”

They jumped away from each other like stung by a bee. Sucking in some cold air to get her brain into operating mode again, the Ocean didn’t know if she should be thankful or cuss the hell out of Claude who stood ten yards away.

“No, no she isn’t.” It felt like the mistletoe incident all over again when she refused to look at the woman beside her.

However Claude remained skeptic. “You sure? Cos I saw her leaning and..”

Lou’s snort caught both their attention. “Thank you! Really, thank you!”

“No, it’s fine, really.” In reality, Debbie was more than ready to punch both of them for ganging up on her.

Scrunching his face in a mix of confusion at Lou’s reaction and unadulterated jealousy, he finally gave in. “Okay, well, if you need me, I’ll be over here.”

“Thanks, Claude.”

Both women watched him walk away, not knowing how to act around each other after their near-kiss and its implications. Determined to just sweep the whole thing under the rug, Debbie did the grown up thing she knew best: changing the topic.

“So, the other misunderstanding? Why did you think I was pregnant when I already told you once before that I wasn’t?”

If Lou was glad about the Ocean’s the deflecting, she didn’t show it. In fact, her face was the blankest and most closed off Debbie had ever seen. It actually felt like a stab to the chest.

“Constance came home and said she heard you tell it to a friend of yours.”

Of course. Of course the girl had still been in earshot when she had joked with Amita. 

“And you believed her?!”

The blonde just shrugged. “I didn’t have a reason not to.”

To a certain extent, Debbie understood. Constance was family after all while she was still a stranger to her. But why did a reasonable explanation hurt so much? She knew she’d regret it sooner or later, yet she had to vent the past days’ frustrations somehow.

“Cos no one would marry me otherwise, is that it?”

As soon as the words were out, Debbie realized how petty they were, how unnecessarily dramatic and manipulative. Still, they were out in the open now, hanging between them, and if the pained expression in Lou’s face was anything to go by, she had struck a nerve.

“This is not what I meant and you know it.”

Those words only added fuel to her fire and she got right up in the blonde’s face. “No, I don’t know it! You’ve been nagging me about the whole thing from Day 1, is it so hard to believe he’d be with me?”

“No, but you’re not really his type either, so please allow me my sisterly scepticism.” The other woman was trying to remain calm, but her tightly set jaw gave away how annoyed she actually was.

“Whose type am I, then?”

Something in Lou’s eyes snapped, and before the Ocean had any time to figure it out, a hand had stolen its way to the back of her head, holding her firmly in place while soft lips crashed not so softly into her own. On instinct, she closed her eyes at the sensation, her hands coming to rest on the blonde’s shoulders looking for anything to steady herself with. 

Now this, this was the kiss she had envisioned, not whatever that under the mistletoe had been. This was worthy of swelling music and a gasping audience. It was push and pull, a gentle fight for control on both sides, each of them trying to get their point across with every miniscule movement. The feeling deep in her stomach was better than the rush during a well-planned heist, and she could happily get lost in it.

Her brain was so muddled by the whole thing, it took ages for her to realize she should absolutely put an end to this, no matter how much she wanted it to last forever. Pushing Lou away panting while still holding onto her coat lapels, she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

“I’m your brother’s fiancée!”

It took a moment for Lou to get back her bearings, and while Debbie was happy about her being as affected by their kiss as she was, it also gave her enough time to remove herself from the situation and run the missing six feet to the front door.

Slamming it closed behind her, she dared a look through the peephole - because apparently she had a masochistic streak. The blonde was still frozen to the spot, seemingly having trouble coming to grips with what had just transpired. Pressing her forehead to the cold wood, Debbie closed her eyes and finally allowed herself to catch her breath. 

She felt more torn than ever before in her life. God, how much she wanted to feel those lips on her again, consequences be damned. As she dragged herself up the stairs to her flat, she could hear people outside chanting, counting the last seconds of 2018. Just as she let herself fall against the door, cheers erupted and fireworks illuminated the darkness around her in various colors.

The old year had ended with a bang while the new one began with a whimper. This might not have been the actual phrasing of the old quote, but it was an adequate adaptation, Debbie thought to herself as she retrieved an already open bottle wine from the fridge. She really had some deep soul searching to do now.

The glass tightly in hand and papers full of pros and cons beside her, she watched the final colorful explosions from her windowsill. In the stillness of the new year, her phone started ringing on the table, almost making her drop her drink in shock at the sudden sound.

~~~

Rushing into the hospital lobby, Debbie was glad to immediately see a familiar face waving wildly at her. The new year wasn’t even two hours old and it seemed it had already doubled up the speed in which things went down.

“Pete, what’s happening, they told me to come down here asap.”

Said man beamed at her, barely able to contain his excitement. “Harry’s awake!”

Her fight-or-flight instinct kicked in immediately, the decision falling on ‘flight’, and Debbie turned hot on her heels, ready to run away as far as her legs would carry her. Unfortunately he was faster than her and gently dragged her into the elevator by her arm.

“He’ll be so glad to see you.”

_ We’ll see about that _ . The Ocean winced internally. The moment of truth was inching closer and closer and she watched the red floor digits going up and up with increasing dread. The realization dawned on her that probably the whole family would be there - including Lou.

The instant memory of their kiss send a wave of warmth through her, while her stomach was tying itself up in knots over the moment’s anxiety and panic. Debbie felt like throwing up from nerves and the psychological battle raging inside her.

Walking out of the elevator, they were immediately reunited with the rest of the family, everyone prattling excitedly with each other and Pete joining in directly. The Ocean briefly closed her eyes to collect herself as a hand squeezed hers reassuringly.

She found Rose standing next to her - maybe she was a bit disappointed it wasn’t Lou, maybe - giving her a tight-lipped smile, wishing her luck silently. Debbie wanted to say something, to ask her, plead with her to get her out of this, but the doctor arrived and allowed them all into Harry’s room.

Apparently the patient had fallen asleep again between now and his poetic waking up just past midnight, so everyone formed a semi-circle around the bed and waited for the doctor to do or say something.

No matter how much Debbie tried to distract herself and calming down her racing heart, sooner or later her eyes landed on the exit sign above the door. It was mocking her with it’s pretty red light and the promise of what laid behind, she was sure of it. 

With everyone but one present, the doctor carefully shook Harry’s shoulder, waking him from his slumber. “Your family’s here.”

Biting her lip in anticipation, Debbie was more than glad that Lou hadn’t shown up for whatever reason. Seeing her again right now for the first time after their kiss would have made everything so much worse, even if it didn’t seem possible.

Slowly, his eyes fluttered open, and the Ocean watched with bated breath as he took in one person after the other. Copying the happy smile everyone else was casting Harry, she held his gaze. When his eyes wandered to Daisy next to her, she wanted to drop the grimace in relief (and maybe inch very slowly out of the room before anyone would notice). 

Then his face panned back to her, eyebrows crumbling up in confusion.

“Wait, who are you?”

Time stood still - for Debbie at least. There was no way this could end well for her. Instantly she felt reminded of when she last had to prove herself to the Millers, holding her breath as Linda had checked under Harry’s blanket for… yeah. Now she longed to have this moment back, because this one here was way worse in comparison.

“My God”, Pete exclaimed what probably everyone else was thinking, “he’s got amnesia!”

Having her mouth already opened to defend herself, the Ocean snapped it shut again. Okay, so apparently there was a way to save her hide for the time being. She really needed to come up with an exit strategy, there was no way in heaven and hell that she would get away a third time.

Gracefully, she accepted Linda’s and Daisy’s gestures of comfort as they left the room, patting her shoulder and telling her not to take it too hard, all would be well and good soon enough. Meanwhile, Pete had fetched the doctor back for an explanation.

“Retrograde amnesia is a condition in which memory loss is localized and patchy and can be limited to selective events--”

Hanging back and pressing her forehead to the doorframe, Debbie listened to the doctor prattle on. Gathering every ounce of courage, she decided to end this once and for all, bite the bullet right now. There came a moment in every Ocean’s life where they had to admit defeat and live with the consequences of their actions. For Danny it had been Tess, for Debbie it was this. 

At least Lou wasn’t here, so she wouldn’t have to look into her face after all was said and done.

“I’m sorry”, she interrupted the doctor, demanding everyone’s attention, “there is something important I need to tell you, I never was--”

Daisy beat her to the punch. “Pregnant? We know, Lou called us.”

“Lou did--” that was definitely not what she had wanted to say, but she was interrupted for good as for one said woman sauntered out of the elevator and two a nurse came back to tell them Harry might be up for a few more minutes before he definitely needed to rest again. Why did it feel like everyone was allowed to rest but her?

The blonde brushed past her, barely sparing a glance, and joined her family traipsing after the nurse. Debbie didn’t know what she had expected to happen, but it definitely wasn’t that amount of raw pain in the middle of her chest. Changing tactics, she grabbed Rose’s shoulder to get her attention.

“Rose, I need to--”

Hanging back with her, the older woman took both her hands. “Don’t worry, dear, I’ll tell them. They won’t shoot the messenger, let alone me. I’ll take care of it, I promise.”

“Thank you”, she heaved a sigh of relief.

While it was a small saving grace on the one side, the Ocean still had to face Lou when Rose would explain everything on the other hand. If she was being honest with herself, nothing was scaring her more than the inevitable anger and rejection in the blonde’s eyes once she’d learn the truth.

She should really just leave, why was she still following everyone to Harry’s room as if she were an actual part of the family and not some disgraceful fake?

Holding onto her coat for dear life, Debbie took her place in the family circle again. Pete immediately tried to jump-start his son’s memory once he noticed her.

“Do you remember her?”

Harry’s brows knitted in confusion again. “Should I?”

Now, this would be a great moment for the great reveal. Debbie looked around for help, but Rose was nowhere to be found. How could she have disappeared within mere ten meters between the hallway and Harry’s room?

“Look a little harder.”

“She seems familiar…”

Pressing her lips together, Debbie held Harry’s squinting gaze and bit back a comment about how she should look more than familiar after almost a year of regular newspaper and candy bar purchases. Chances were, it wouldn’t improve her situation. His concession seemed to please his parents immensely, however.

“It’s coming back, I can feel it.” Linda and Pete nodded approvingly at each other.

“What is coming back?”

Linda to her son’s hand again. “Don’t worry, dear, you’ll remember it all soon enough.”

Apparently Harry was at least half as stubborn as his big sister. “No, tell me now, what do I need to know?”

“You’re engaged, you big oaf.” It were the first time she had heard Lou say anything since before she had slammed her door in her face, and Debbie’s mouth went dry. There was something in the way she said  _ ‘engaged _ ’, something icy and detached, that made the Ocean’s stomach twist up in knots.

“To whom?”

“To Debbie.” Her name didn’t sound any better, falling from the blonde’s lips like venom.

“Who is Debbie?”

The Ocean winced internally. This was like watching someone’s teeth getting pulled one by one in slow-motion - and Rose still hadn’t reappeared to get her out of this!

She was saved by the figurative bell, in this case the doctor who had come in again. “I think this was enough excitement for the young man for today, don’t you?”

Reluctantly, the whole family took the hint and filed out one after the other. Hoping to get a hold of Lou, Debbie dawdled instead of just running off, however the blonde was immediately snatched away by her grandmother to talk about whatever.

Sighing and rubbing her forehead for good measure, she instead came face to face with the missing Rose. 

Debbie looked at her in disbelief. “Where have you been?!”

“Can’t I go to the bathroom for a minute?” the older woman replied uncharacteristically calm, completely unfazed by the Ocean’s demeanor.

“You were supposed to tell them!”

Rose just took off her glasses to clean them before she trailed after the rest of the family. “And I will, don’t worry.”

“When? My golden anniversary?”

The small smile on the woman’s face told her that she wouldn’t be too unhappy about that. Maybe she shouldn’t rely too much on her help seeming as Rose was in no hurry to make the truth come to life. Were the circumstances different, Debbie would love to have her on her side and keep her secrets.

When they had finally made their way to the hospital exit, only Lou was to find, fidgeting with her keys between her fingers. 

She still barely looked at her when she stated “I told the others I’m gonna take you home. We need to have a talk, I guess”, she then turned to Rose, “You know where Dad’s car is parked, right? They’re waiting for you.”

Rose’s face lit up at not being forgotten. Still, she shot the two women a questioning look before she walked away, the sound of her mini-heels on the pavement fading with every meter.

Without a word, Lou walked off into the opposite direction, not even looking back to see if Debbie would even follow. But of course she would, the Ocean sighed internally, chances were that unfathomable pull between them could drag her anywhere the blonde went.

They pulled out of the parking garage, the freshly risen sun blinding after such a long night. The streets were littered with bottles and remnants of fireworks, even the odd person who just wouldn’t stop partying no matter the time. Debbie watched them pass by in silence.

As Lou had announced they should talk, she had expected her to start the conversation, but so far she had cloaked herself in silence as well. Which was actually fine by the Ocean, since she still needed to make up her mind about the whole thing and how to proceed from here on. 

Taking into account that Harry had just woken up and the whole scheme would come crashing down around her in no time, it would make no sense to keep her hopes up when it came to the woman beside her. Yes, she had fallen for her. Yes, she wanted her. No, it would never happen, no matter how she turned this thing around in her head. 

When the truck came to a stop in front of her building, both women dared looking at each other again. Gathering all her wits and courage, Debbie bundled them up and tied them up with a tight noose, hoping they wouldn’t escape her this time around.

“Since you refuse to say anything despite announcing you wanted to talk, I’m just gonna take it from here, alright?”, she gave Lou a moment to respond, but the blonde just kept looking at her expectantly, ”Okay so, Lou, you’ve been really great this week and--”

“Great, like when I didn’t trust you and accused you of lying? Or like when I accused you of having a relationship with Claude Junior? Or like when I thought you were pregnant and announced it to all your friends? Or like when… I kissed you knowing you’re about to become my sister-in-law?”

Despite the tension in the car, Debbie couldn’t keep a smile from growing on her lips the longer Lou went on with her list. “You had a really busy week.”

The blonde scrunched her face up painfully. “You could say that.”

The Ocean wanted to say more regarding their shared kiss, wanted to tell the woman in front of her that it had been the best kiss she had ever had, that she regretted nothing, that she wanted to kiss her again and again and-- she couldn’t shouldn’t wouldn’t.

“Starting tomorrow, things will become a whole lot different and I just want you to know you’ve become a really…”, she had to turn away, she couldn’t look Lou in the eyes when she uttered the next words, the next blatant lie, “.. a really good friend.”

Silence fell over them like a heavy blanket, thick enough to suffocate. And yet Debbie couldn’t help glancing at the blonde, wishing she’d protest and tell her to hell with all this being her brother’s fiancée bullshit. In the end it wasn’t the silence that took her breath away, but the expression on Lou’s face.

Debbie had expected a perfect mask, stony as anything or even worse, a genuinely glad face that they’d just let the kiss slide under the table, but instead there was raw sadness and hurt, her eyes a shade of blue she hadn’t seen before. It was too much, she had to get out of this car before she could do something she’d regret - again.

“Debbie.”

Spoken into the stillness like that, her name was enough to make her pause and fill her with hope again. Was this the moment Lou would start fighting for them - or whatever they could be?

However, the blonde’s usual mask just slipped right into its allotted place. “I just wanted you to know that I didn’t mean what I said about you and Harry. You’re gonna make a terrific couple and I’m glad you’re both not alone anymore.”

The words were sincere enough, yet they still left Debbie with a hollowness inside her chest. All she could bring herself to do in response was a lopsided smile and a quiet goodbye before she closed the passenger door.

Numbness spread inside her as she watched the truck drive away. Maybe it was in her genes that doing the right thing felt so wrong while doing wrong things felt so right.

~~~

It all would end today, Debbie had decided (once again). That was why she was currently on her way to Harry’s room, laden with all of his stuff she still hadn’t brought to his apartment. In fact, she hadn’t been there since Lou and her had brought in the sofa as well as a good dash of chaos, but to be fair when had she even had enough time to breathe in the past week, let alone head back there?

When the elevator doors opened on Harry’s floor for her, she told herself that she was ready to face the Millers, whether Rose had finally told them or not. Well, as ready as she could be.

Thankfully, the room was empty apart from the patient when she peeked around the doorframe - and even Harry was sleeping. All the better. Not wanting to wake him, she tiptoed inside. However she was a bit too focused on the man on the bed, so that she didn’t notice the chair in her way until she bumped into it. 

While she didn’t drop the box, the combined rattling of its insides and the jostled chair made enough noise to wake Harry. The Ocean winced when she looked into his open eyes. Now this was about to get very awkward.

“Debbie!”

“Hi”, was all she managed to get out at first, but then she remembered the box in her hand, “I came to bring you back your things.”

She could see the gears shifting behind his eyes - they were almost the same shade of blue as Lou’s, just a bit darker - as he tried to come up with something so say against the budding uncomfortable silence. 

“Do you want a sandwich?”

Looking from him to the tray on his bedside table, Debbie couldn’t help a small laugh. She was actually glad that he was as awkward as her right now.

“No, thanks… but can I get you anything?”

Harry mulled about this for a second before he fixed her with big eyes. “Please sit down?”

Actually, she just wanted to get the truth out and then run off, never to be seen again, but she found herself granting his wish anyway. After the screech of the plastic chair on the linoleum floor had died away, they stared at each other, not knowing how to proceed from here.

The Ocean wanted to starther prepared speech, yet what came out was “I saw a photo of you when you rescued those squirrels.” 

“Oh yeah, that was quite the adventure”, Harry laughed quietly, reminiscing his childhood fondly.

“We don’t get to do many heroic things as adults.” Her mind wandering, Debbie figured she probably rather was the villain than the hero in many people’s stories.

“True. But you do!” he added, clearly remembering the story of how she supposedly had saved him.

A blush crept up her cheek at the way he looked at her in admiration. Quickly, she tried to play it down. “Oh, no, jumping in front of a truck is quite unusual for me, too, believe it or not.”

He shrugged, disregarding her objections. “Still, I’ve never done anything truly heroic in my life.”

Quietly, Debbie took him in for a moment. In the harsh hospital light she could clearly see the resemblance to his sister, the similarities in their face structures, but the small differences that made them both unique, too. There were more laugh lines around his eyes, yet the corners of his lips seemed to have a more downward slope to them. And there was something else that he didn’t share with Lou: a genuine sadness about the prospect of having nothing worthwhile achieved in life so far. She could relate to that.

“That’s not true, you sometimes give away your chocolate bar to one of the homeless around”, Debbie finally spoke up again.

“That’s not heroic.”

“It is to them.” 

If there was something she had learnt in heist planning then it was that even the smallest details could make a whole lot of difference in the end. It wasn’t that much different with life in general. Before they could deepen their conversation about life, death and all the things between, Debbie’s phone beeped at her. Groaning, she looked at the time. 

If she wanted to make it to the kiosk in time and not bring Tammy’s wrath upon her - which she would anyway as soon as she told her about Harry waking up - she had to leave right now. Again, the opportunity to come clean had passed her by and it hadn’t even raised its hand in greeting. Maybe if Tammy let her live despite telling her the news a day late, she could come back later.

~~~

To her surprise, Tammy hadn’t even read her the riot act - neither for being fifteen minutes late nor for the belated news - but just looked at her with eyebrows raised beyond her hairline in a silent challenge. And really, what else should she have done? Her friend wasn’t the person to repeat herself again and again when she knew Debbie had understood her the first three times around already.

So now the Ocean was on her way back to the hospital, daring another attempt at telling the truth. As she drew closer, a familiar figure came into view. With delight she realized it was Rose standing in front of the electric doors. Maybe the universe had finally been kind to her and the older woman had told the Millers at long last.

“Rose, hi! Are the Millers up there?” she came straight to the point, cautious hope blooming in her chest.

The older woman looked at her apologetically. “They’ve just left, you missed them by a minute.”

Well, even better. “And?”

“And what?” 

She looked genuinely clueless, while Debbie was just about ready to shake her, brimming with anticipation as she was. “What did they say, how did they react?”

“What-- oh!”, Rose pushed her askew glasses back up her nose, “I didn’t tell them.”

“Rose!”, now she  _ really _ was only a few inches away from shaking her for good measure, “You said you would handle it!”

“And I am!”

“This is what you call handling it?”

The older woman but her hands to her hips, clearly affronted. “Why yes!”

“Rose, you’re fired.”

Debbie knew that maybe it wasn’t all that fair to the other woman to just storm off and leave her standing there, but she needed to have this thing sorted out right now. The booming voice of her father accompanied her all the way back to the elevator and she hated to agree with him. Still, if you wanted something to go according to plan, you really had to do it yourself.

That didn’t keep her nerves from fluttering and going haywire, of course. She was so lost in thought, she just barely stopped herself from rushing completely into another woman waiting for the elevator too.

“If you can’t afford some glasses, try to walk around with some care!”

Being in no mood for a fight, Debbie just gritted her teeth and smiled apologetically. Maybe she also relieved her off her purse when she exited the elevator two floors before her in some act of pettiness. Maybe. The woman looked like she could afford it anyway.

Coming into Harry’s room, Debbie found it surprisingly empty. Noticing all his belongings were missing too, she figured that something vital had happened in her absence. Her suspicions were confirmed when a nurse came over to retrieve her.

“They moved him to floor 2, dear. Come on. I’ll take you.”

In a turn of events, the same woman Debbie had almost run over now almost did the same to her as she was storming out of Harry’s new room. Something had clearly rubbed her the wrong way since she was all but fuming with smoke coming out of her ears. 

Despite seeing there was now another man sharing the room with Harry and knowing that she had probably been his visitor, Debbie couldn’t help but ask.

“Hey, I’m back.. who was that?”

“Oh, that was Daphne. Have I ever told you about her? I proposed to her before I met you, but instead of answering properly she fled to Portugal for months. Apparently she doesn’t get how I interpreted that reaction as a solid ‘no’ and moved on.”

He said it so casually as if he was just talking about next week’s weather forecast, while Debbie felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her feet. So he had actually been kinda-engaged all that time? And she had just stolen from his ex-fiancée? It was definitely time to salvage whatever possible.

“Listen, Harry, I need you to know--”

Harry held up a hand to stop her mid-sentence, smiling. “No, Debbie, please, let me say something first.”

She knew this was probably a bad idea, yet she went against her gut and decided to let him speak, lips pressed to a tight line and nodding carefully.

“I’ve been given a second chance in life. This is more than most people get and it puts a lot of things into perspective. I thought I was happy, or happy enough, with my penthouse, my impressive financial portfolio, my porsche… but there is so much more to life, isn’t there? You made me see a lot of things in a different light, and I am eternally grateful for that. I might be missing some memories right now, but I know my family loves you, so _ I _ might as well love you-”

By now, Debbie had a very clear idea where this was going and despite everything she had daydreamed about weeks ago, she was decidedly  _ not _ happy about it.

“-- so I’m asking - again - Debbie Ocean… will you marry me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you notice immediately where I switched things up a bit? If so, let me know how you liked it!
> 
> Even if not, tell me anyway! <3


	6. The one with the conclusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You remembered”, her voice was all but a whisper, “But... it was just a passing comment.”
> 
> Lou clearly tried to play it cool, however if anything her words betrayed her. “Yet the way your eyes shone in that moment it had to be important to you.”
> 
> “I don’t know what to say, I- … thank you. This is the best wedding gift anyone could’ve given me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: *says it might take a few days longer than usually*  
> Also me: *posts one day earlier than usually*
> 
> Can't say I'm sorry and I really hope y'all aren't either 🤷♀️
> 
> This is the last full chapter! And booooy there's A LOT going on in here, but well.. The movie is going nuts in its last 15 minutes too.
> 
> Enjoy!

Debbie pressed her eyes shut tightly, hoping desperately object permanence would cease to exist and everything would become undone. It didn’t last long however, as a delighted ‘ _ whoop! well done, son! _ ’ forced her to snap her head around immediately.

As it turned out, Rose had been following her up and was now standing in the doorway, almost swooning. By the way her face froze when she was confronted with Debbie’s glare, the Ocean figured right away that the older woman might have something to do with this.

Harry seemed a bit flustered by his godmother’s reaction too, but replied with a sheepish thumbs up.

Oh she  _ definitely _ was behind this.

Debbie was just about ready to grab her and haul her behind the next corner to read her the riot act, when the older woman got a call. Fumbling for it in her bag, her eyes lit up as she saw the caller ID.

“Linda! You got a sixth sense, believe me! You have no idea what just happened!”

Eyes widening almost comically, the Ocean ran after her, but in the end wasn’t fast enough to keep her from telling the woman on the other end of the line about Harry’s proposal. When she added that Debbie obviously had said yes - which she certainly hadn't! - , she was more than ready to scream.

When Rose had finally finished the call, Debbie pinned her to right where she was standing with an icy stare and a finger almost jabbing into her chest. “You evil, evil woman, you planned this!”

“But dear”, the other woman started, pushing the Ocean’s finger away and grinning broadly, “I told you I’d take care of it. To be fair, I also told you a while back that I’d always do what’s best for the family. And this is the best that could have happened.”

“But I want Lou and not Harry!”

Shocked, Debbie slapped a hand over her mouth. Still, it was too late, the words were out and floating in the air, causing all sorts of rampage between Rose’s synapses.

The other woman’s mouth opened and closed a few times like a fish out of water. Slowly, she sank onto the nearest chair. “Oh dear, oh Lord, now that’s… not good.”

“You think?” the Ocean rebutted, finally having a fractions of her bearings back.

“Does she know?”

Debbie sat down next to her, eyes firmly cast to the floor. “Maybe, I don’t know. We kissed - for real, not that forsaken mistletoe kiss I will hold against you all until eternity -, but then Harry woke up and I kinda blew her off, thinking I’d be out of this whole number soon anyway.”

Burying her face in her hands, Rose groaned. “I’m getting half an anxiety attack just from listening.”

“Now imagine how the last two weeks have been for me and how I had hoped to put an end to this right the fuck now.”

“I’m sorry”, Rose mumbled quietly.

Debbie risked a sidelong glance at her. “Does this mean you’re gonna tell them the truth now?”

“No.”

“If I weren’t so infuriated with you, I’d respect you for sticking to your principles.” There was no bite behind the words, her will to fight and fight and fight not burning but just simmering.

“Thanks.”

“It wasn’t a compliment.”

~~~~

“Are you completely sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Let me try again: Are you completely sure?”

“Well… kinda.”

“Debbie, one last time, are you completely sure?”

“No, okay!”, she threw her hands up in defeat, “I am absolutely, completely not sure.”

Tammy had at least the decency to tamper down her smug grin. “Then why are you doing this? Is this that stupid  _ ‘I’m an Ocean I stick to it and die on this hill just cos I can _ ’ mentality or what?”

“I don’t think that exists.” Debbie crossed her arms in defiance, but it only got her a raised eyebrow. 

“Remember your brother and think again.”

“How do you know to hit every single nerve with such accuracy? Were you born with this or did you perfect it with age?”

Anyone else might have flinched at her slicing commentary, but the blonde was seeing right through her, knowing too well that the Ocean was nothing more than a paper tiger at the moment. “You don’t become a good fence by just batting your eyelashes. So, am I gonna be your bridesmaid or what?”

“How flexible are you timewise? It’s quite short notice, I guess.”

“Oh God, when are we talking?”

Closing her eyes briefly and clutching her cappuccino like a lifeline, Debbie swallowed at remembering her impending doom. “They want to do it as soon as Harry gets out of the hospital, maybe directly in the chapel they have.”

Tammy regarded her with a long look before she blew out a long whistle. “They certainly don’t like to waste any time, I’ll give them that.”

“You haven’t even heard the end of it. Linda immediately volunteered her old wedding dress for me to wear.”

“Wow, they really want this over and done with.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna head over there later and pick it up.”

“Debbie, don’t you thin--”

The Ocean returned her gaze from the window. “I do think, Tammy, I really do, but everytime I try to come clean the universe throws me a curveball. Maybe this is how it’s supposed to be - and it could be way worse. I mean, he’s making good money, his family is amazing,...”

“And one family member is slightly more amazing than the others…”

Looking unwaveringly at her friend, Debbie leant back in her seat. “You know what, I’m not even gonna try to pretend that you’re wrong.”

“That’s a new one. Is that personal growth I’m spotting there?”

“Don’t be ridiculous”, she rebutted, mirth shining in her eyes, “but if life leads me down the path where I enter a somewhat arranged marriage, have his kids, maybe even come to love him for real someday, and maybe enter a doomed affair with my hot sister-in-law which will lead to a divorce and granting me half of his wealth, then so be it.”

“You’re right, this  _ really _ isn’t personal growth”, Tammy conceded, hiding her smile behind her cup.

“What can I say, I’m my father’s daughter, whether he liked it or not.”

~~~

The dress hanging from a hanger around her neck, Debbie looked at herself in the mirror and gave a half-hearted twirl. Somehow, she had imagined more excitement about her wedding when she was a little girl. Or had she even spared something mundane like that any thought between scheme A, B and C of her father?

“So, what do you think?”

She turned around and struck a pose, yet her cat kept on staring at her unblinkingly and in silence from the sofa. 

“You’re a great help, thank you ever so much.”

Sighing, she let her shoulders slump and stroked over the fabric. It was a simple and modest dress, the skirt almost reaching the ground, no leg slit, no cleavage or bared back, but still beautiful by any means. Thirty years back it had probably been the height of fashion. For her own pride and sake, she decided to declare it as  _ ‘vintage’ _ . 

Just as she was thinking about pulling her sweater over head to try it on, a knock sounded from the door. What could Claude want now? She had heard him talking to his apparently new girlfriend in the hallway mere minutes ago, so couldn’t he keep bothering her?

Groaning in annoyance, she pulled the sweater’s hem down again, flung the dress to the side, and stomped to the door. And made the same mistake she always did.

“I don’t want any flowers from you, I’m not wearing black underwear, and I don’t wanna move in toge-- Lou!”

“Well, I didn’t bring flowers, I wouldn’t mind seeing black underwear”, the other woman ticked everything off with upheld fingers, “and considering the circumstances, I don’t think we should move in together.”

_ Peep hole, Ocean, learn to use the forsaken peep hole. _

“I thought you were Claude Junior.”

Lou looked at her, face impassive except for a miniscule glint of mischief in her eyes. “You know what, I get that a lot.”

“Understandable, the resemblance is uncanny”, Debbie deadpanned before her lips lost the fight against an uprising smile, “Do you wanna come in?”

Only when Lou came to a stop in the middle of her living room and looked around, Debbie realized she’d never been in here before. Her sharp eyes scanned the room, taking in every knick-knack on the shelves and the dirty mugs in the kitchen sink, and the Ocean wondered what the other woman was deducting about her from it. At last, her gaze came to rest on something that made her falter.

“Wow, this is”, Lou seemed at a loss for words, “the wedding dress.”

Suddenly, Debbie felt extremely self-conscious, the need to justify the dress rushing through her brain like the blush up her cheeks. “Yeah… It’s not really my style or even today’s style, but your mom wanted me to have it and since it’d be close to impossible to get a good dress in this short amount of time…”

“You’ll look absolutely beautiful in it, don’t worry”, Lou assessed, looking Debbie up and down as she took the previously discarded garment to hang it up properly.

The Ocean swallowed hard at the kindness in her blue eyes. Why couldn’t Lou be the one standing opposite her in front of the altar, why? Well, the answer to that was quite obvious, but she'd schedule the next break down about it for later. 

At last, the blonde tore her eyes away and fumbled with the bag slung over her shoulder. “Well, actually I came here to give you something, you know, before all the other presents start piling up.”

After almost turning the bag inside out, she finally managed to pull out a small box covered in badly done gift wrap and held it out to Debbie who in turn regarded it carefully.

“At least it’s not another sofa”, she quipped.

“Who says there isn’t a miniature version of one in there?”

The Ocean rolled her eyes fondly. “You’re such a smartass.”

“You lo-- like me, tho.”

And there it was again, that suffocating silence. How could unsaid things feel like physical weights even too heavy for Atlas to bear? Each woman shuffled around somewhat awkwardly, eyes cast everywhere but the other’s face. Until Lou found her composure again and shook the box impatiently, its content rattling quietly.

“C’mon, it won’t bite.”

Not entirely convinced, Debbie took it and turned it over several times before slowly removing the tape. She didn’t even have to look up from her task to know that Lou was almost bursting with anticipation and just short of telling her to hurry up, the way she was bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet was a dead giveaway. And quite endearing, if she was being honest.

Letting the paper fall to the floor with a quiet thud, she opened the box with bated breath, which subsequently turned into a gasp when she pulled the content free. 

In her hand she held a beautiful snow globe with a miniature version if the Colosseum in the center. Fervently, Debbie wrecked her brain trying to remember when she had ever mentioned her lifelong dream to visit Rome someday. Then it clicked. That dinner at the Millers’, the one that ended under the mistletoe. 

“You remembered”, her voice was all but a whisper, “But... it was just a passing comment.”

Lou clearly tried to play it cool, however if anything her words betrayed her. “Yet the way your eyes shone in that moment it had to be important to you.”

“I don’t know what to say, I- … thank you. This is the best wedding gift anyone could’ve given me.”

At the mention of the wedding, the spell around them seemed to splinter and break instantly, Lou’s eyes becoming guarded and the color of a rough sea during rain again. If Debbie weren’t internally screaming at herself for fucking a Moment with a capital M up again, she would marvel at how the blonde’s eyes were like a mood ring.

“I better get going, you probably still have a lot to take care of”, she sighed, turning away reluctantly but somehow still making a fast exit.

It took Debbie a moment to catch on, to realize that this might be the very last chance to turn this whole thing around. 

“Lou!”, she bolted after her, catching her on her way down the stairs, “Lou, can you give me any reason why I shouldn’t marry your brother?”

A half-hearted smile tugged at the other woman’s lips. “Apart from him being a witless oaf?”

Debbie couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, apart from that.”

The air crackled with anticipation as the blonde visibly struggled for an answer. The Ocean held her breath as their eyes found each other again.

“Yes, but I won’t say it.”

“Why?”, Debbie asked while her stomach plummeted through the floor.

The look in Lou’s eyes was drenched in sadness, making the blue appear more grey, and Debbie’s heart was ready to plummet as well. 

“Cos I don’t want to be selfish like that.”

Completely overwhelmed, Debbie stood rooted to the spot as the blonde turned around and left. Did her words mean what she wanted them to mean so badly? Her instinct was to run after Lou and either shake her or kiss her or both, not necessarily in that order. Yet again, she stayed where she was, holding onto the door frame with an iron grip, knowing that the blonde was right - no matter how much she hated it.

There was only one thing to do now. Groaning, she made her way to her bed, threw herself face-first into the pillow and pounded the mattress with balled fists for good measure.

~~~

God, she was ready to throw up right into the sad excuse for a bridal bouquet she’d picked up at the subway station. 

Debbie didn’t think she had ever been this nervous in her whole life. Sure, walking down the aisle naturally came with some jitters, but she was certain that her heartbeat was dancing a rhythm that wasn’t anywhere near natural.

As every single step took her closer to the altar, her eyes roamed on their own account, not daring to look straight ahead where Harry was waiting. The man she was supposed to marry within the next minutes, and she couldn’t even look at him. Scanning the room, something close to disappointment settled in her chest. Somehow, she had always thought that Danny would come out of his hidey-hole for her wedding, making an entrance and the whole thing about him in the end.

But there was no one. No parents, no brother, no friends due to it being so short notice. Not even Tammy had been able to make it because she had to take over Debbie’s shift.

As she neared the altar, she caught Rose’s eyes. The older woman smiled at first, but it faltered the longer they looked at each other. An ugly part inside Debbie reared its head in satisfaction at the shame and guilt in the woman’s face.

Daring to look ahead for the last few feet, Debbie first took in Harry in his smart tux, a picture of dreamy poster boy right out of a wedding magazine. Yet the image was unable to hold her attention for more than a second, because her eyes flitted automatically to Lou standing next to her brother.

There were no leather pants today, but the Ocean was transfixed nevertheless. The blonde had donned a baby blue suit, high waist pants with a long blazer kept closed by a chain at her middle, white blouse and a wild array of necklaces dangling from her neck, and Debbie almost missed the first step up to the plateau while staring.

Both women were still looking at each other when she had finally made it safely to her assigned spot. Debbie was still searching her eyes for something, anything, however she found them unreadable. Yet, there was a subtle clench in Lou’s jaw, betraying her poker face.

“Dearly beloved, we have gathered here today to join--”

“I object.”

Everything fell deadly silent. If all the pairs of eyes on her were any indication, she had actually said it out loud instead of just thinking to herself. 

“I haven’t gotten to that part yet”, the priest protested and was just about to continue with his speech just for the sake of it, when Lou caught her eyes over Harry’s shoulder and spoke up as well.

“I think I have to object, too.”

Despite it making the situation probably even worse, a warm feeling bloomed in Debbie’s chest at her words, not to mention the look in her eyes. If this was what the blonde had meant with being selfish, then she wanted nothing more than for her to be it right here, right now.

The priest glanced between the two women and then to Harry. “And… what about you?”

“I’m…”, he was clearly shell-shocked, “still thinking.”

“What the hell is going on?!”

Taking a deep breath, Debbie faced the Millers, everyone in the front row looking at the four people on the podium with a mix of confusion, dread, and annoyance. There was no right way about this now, so she might as well come clean all the way. 

“I’m in love with your child.”

Apparently that only fuelled the general bewilderment, as everyone almost simultaneously furrowed their brows at her. In the end, Pete decided to speak for everyone. “Strange phrasing, but we know, so what’s the problem?”

Yeah, she should’ve phrased it more clearly. 

“Not this one”, Debbie pointed around Harry, “that one.”

“Lou! What did you do now?!”

Even her father’s insinuation and rage couldn’t keep the blonde from sporting a smug grin right this moment. Debbie subdued the impulse to smack her with her bouquet - this was not the right time for feeling accomplished and demonstratively self-satisfied, thank you very much.

Since she was about to be out of the family within the next minutes anyway, the Ocean decided to take the full fall. “She didn’t do anything, it was all me, really. Lou was just… being Lou, I guess.”

“More often than not, that's exactly the problem”, Pete mumbled under his breath, and Debbie was more than thankful for Linda swatting him not too kindly on the shoulder for it. Otherwise she might have stepped down from the altar and done it herself.

“Do you remember that day at the hospital?”, Debbie pinched the bridge of her nose, exasperated with herself, “Of course you do. Anyway, there was a mix up cos they wouldn’t let me see him after they brought him in, so a nurse told the doctor I was his finacée. But the truth is… I wasn’t. I never was engaged to Harry, we didn’t actually know each other.”

There was pain in Lou’s eyes from seeing all the ways it could’ve turned out differently for the both of them, and she whispered the most obvious question, the one thing that had haunted Debbie’s mind for weeks now: “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“Cos I was afraid to lose this”, the Ocean whispered back, leaving the blonde to read between the lines, before she addressed the whole family again, “and then at the hospital everything happened too fast and I couldn’t tell you the truth - and then I didn’t  _ wanna _ tell you the truth. Cos the truth is… I fell in love with all of you. Within minutes I went from being all alone to being surrounded by all these amazing people. You allowed me to be a part of your family and I haven’t had that in a long long time and… I just didn’t wanna let go of that.”

Huffing, Debbie blinked rapidly at the ceiling, trying to fight off the tears pricking at the back of her eyes. For what it was worth, she was gonna get this over with with as much dignity intact as possible.

So she soldiered on, coming to a close. “So please know, even if it’s for the wrong reason, I loved Harry for a little while and… I’m very sorry”, just as she turned away from the family, something came back to her and she regarded Harry who was still somewhat dumbstruck and fumbling for words, “and I’m sorry about your carpet.”

Despite all the betrayal and disappointment sitting firm in her face, Lou had to snort at that. Casting her a timid smile, Debbie started her descend from the podium and then out of the chapel. Of course she was hoping that someone (in particular) would stop her, and of course she felt cold defeat nestling in her insides when no-one did, yet she still tried to make her way out with her head held as high as possible. She was an Ocean after all.

Debbie wasn’t even halfway down the aisle when the doors flew open with a bang and Daphne stormed in.

“Harry Miller is engaged to me!”, she yelled with no small amount of fury, demanding everyone’s attention, “I object to this wedding!”

Behind her, Debbie could hear the priest mutter something under his breath, but she refrained from looking back. Instead, when she reached Daphne’s level, she just held her bouquet out for her.

“Knock yourself out.”

Flabbergasted for a moment, she other woman took the flowers and continued her way to the front, not sparing the Ocean a second glance. On one side she was glad Daphne was not caring for her at all, on the other she really hoped Harry wouldn’t just marry her instead - the Millers didn’t deserve to have such a rude and self-centered person in their midst.

Just as she had thought, chaos ensued behind her, accusations flying through the chapel like a startled flock of birds. 

Almost savely hidden behind the door frame, she risked one last glance. Harry, his parents, and Daphne were in full confrontation mode, hands gesticulating wildly while arguing, and Daisy still had her old camera raised high to take pictures. Constance however, as Debbie couldn’t fail to notice with an amused grin, had removed herself from the epicenter of the storm and was currently nicking money off one of Harry’s friends. Maybe one day, when all of this would have long blown over, she could rope the girl into something.

Then of course there was Lou, standing on the sidelines of the commotion, hands in her pockets. Just looking at her converted Debbie’s heartbeat into a continuous and rhythmic stabbing sensation. Which then stopped when the blonde turned her head and directly looked at her from the other end of the room. 

The Ocean did what she had wanted to do since the first day at the hospital: she turned and ran. 

~~~

Disbelieving, but positively so, Debbie looked from her Christmas tree to her cat. “You only smashed one bauble this time, over the whole three weeks? Thanks for going easy on me, baby.”

Scratching him behind his ears for good measure and pressing a kiss to his little head, she then proceeded to take the remaining ornaments off the tree. It was well past its due date judging by the amount of dry needles on the floor.

A knock on the door almost made her drop the precious bauble in her hand. Could this be? Quickly, she smoothed her hair back and pointed a finger at her cat. “Stay where you are, don’t betray my fragile trust now, okay?”

Her fragile trust still ended up betrayed, or her hope rather, as she opened the door and was faced with Claude. Interestingly enough, he looked almost as miserable as she felt.

“Hey.. I just came to say that I’m sorry things didn’t work out with him.. or her? I’m confused. Anyway, right now you should get in touch with the child within and uhm.. explore your feminine side and..”

“Did you read one of your mom’s self-help books again?”

Claude shot her a indignant look. “Shush, I’m not finished. Where was I? Ah, and don’t eat all those cookies and candies and stuff cos you’ll blow up like one of those pigeons in the park and…”, he noticed Debbie’s raised eyebrows, her challenging and piercing stare making him falter slightly, “and what I’m trying to say is… you deserve better than that.”

Her heart warmed a bit at that. Of course he didn't have the faintest idea about what really happened and how Debbie was sure she deserved every negative emotion she was going through, but the sentiment made her smile nevertheless.

Still, she didn’t want to mull too long over this. Time for a change of topic. “So how’s it going with… I don’t even know her name.”

“Why, you interested now?”, he drawled, but his facade crumbled before Debbie could rebut anything, “She broke up with me and… and I just don’t understand why and--”

The Ocean didn’t know it was possible, but her heart melted at the sight of him, all watery eyes and slumped shoulders. “Aw, come in, sit down, I’m gonna get some of those cookies and candies, alright?”

Leaving a quietly sniffling Claude on her sofa, Debbie prepared for a long night.

~~~

The past days had gone by in a semi-blur for Debbie. She had asked her boss for some extra shifts, hoping it would take her mind off things a bit, but as it had turned out that plan had backfired spectacularly. With nothing to do but sitting around waiting for customers, she seemed to have even more time to think and wreck her brain than if she had just stayed at home. It was a losing game, really.

“The Times and a snickers please.”

Wallowing in her own misery, she didn’t pay much attention to her new customer. Only when familiar ringed fingers came into view as she pushed the order over the counter, her head snapped up fast enough to make her neck crack loudly.

Lou winced at the sound. “I know I’ve turned some necks in my life, but never like this.”

Unable to decide what to do or say, Debbie stood paralyzed for what felt like a solid minute, her rapidly blinking eyes the only sign that she was still somehow alive. She wanted to throw that snickers at her head for shocking her like that, wanted to throw herself over the counter and kiss her senseless, wanted to burst into tears and beg for forgiveness, wanted to--

In the end, the filter between her brain and mouth simply collapsed from the overload and every polite conversation starter was trampled over by her next words.

“What is it with you that I constantly want to either smack you or kiss you?”

“It’s just my natural charm I guess”, the blonde shrugged, trademark smug grin firm in place, “Also, those things aren’t mutually exclusive.” 

Debbie regarded the woman in front of her for a long second, her brain going fifty miles a minute sifting through ideas and plans how to best go about everything. This was a pivotal moment right there if she ever saw one. Tammy would probably give up on her completely if she didn’t seize this second chance.

While she technically had nothing to lose, the Ocean’s heart still beat out a samba when she suggested “Wanna come in? I’ll close off everything and then we can talk.” 

She had banked on another smug or sarcastic comment, but Lou surprised her with a semi-nervous smile and a little nod. 

Before they could even make themselves as comfortable as possible in this setting, Lou uncharacteristically started the conversation. “Just before we get into the deep end of this, I just want to clarify that I have a strong preference on whether this ends with you smacking or kissing me.”

The Ocean didn’t know what it was, if it was the mischievous glint in the blonde’s eyes or the barely noticeable nervous tapping of her foot betraying her carefully crafted bravado, but she felt a rush of boldness coursing through her veins all of a sudden. Keeping unflinching eye contact with the blonde, she got right into her space, a perfect turnaround of their encounter on New Year’s Eve.

“We could also skip right to that part and get it out of the way.”

Her lips breaking into a full grin, Lou’s face came to meet hers. “I really like the way you think.”

“Do you now?” 

Their lips were mere millimeters apart when Debbie gave her a good smack on her upper arm, the sound reverberating in the confined space of the kiosk. Yet before the blonde could protest loudly, she was pulled in by her coat lapels and the Ocean stole the yelp right from her lips.

More than content, Debbie hummed into the kiss. This time, there was no frenzy, no scorching heat behind it, it was just two people who were happy about seemingly being on the same page regarding their feelings. They broke apart with bright eyes and broad smiles, yet Lou still had to protest halfheartedly and rub her arm in a theatrical fashion.

“Oi, given the circumstances  _ I _ should be the one smacking  _ you _ !”

“This is the first thing you have to say right now? I should smack your other arm as well!”, Debbie teased, “You were the one who said the two things weren’t mutually exclusive.”

The blonde huffed amusedly. “Using my words against me, cheeky. Not sure if I like it yet.”

Against all odds, this sobered her up quite a bit.

“Before I get myself into the next big misunderstanding, let me just get this straight: You’re not mad at me and… I don’t even dare say it… you actually might wanna be with me?”

More graceful than should be allowed in those heels, Lou sat herself down on the counter and patted the spot next to her. So this was the moment they’d talk everything through like actual grown ups. Debbie still wasn’t much of a fan of the whole concept.

“You can believe how angry I was in the chapel, how utterly betrayed I felt, and I had every right to be”, she noticed the Ocean’s face falling and taking on a downtrodden expression, so she gently pulled her down next to her, “I’m still wrapping my head around some things and trying to not wallow in all those negative feelings anymore. The bright side of it all is just too tempting.”

Debbie scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. “And that is?”

“Well, duh. You’re not actually gonna marry my brother and I can try to shoot my shot without being a homewrecker.”

She couldn’t help but smile, the blonde had a fair point. Still, she wasn’t the only person Debbie worried about. “What about your family? I can’t blame them for hating me after everything.”

Taking her hand, Lou intertwined their fingers, sending a pleasant tingle up her whole arm. “They’re getting over it, I promise. Harry might take a little longer, tho, he kinda feels like the butt of a joke, understandably so, and Daphne is giving him a hard time about everything, still.”

“So she’s still around?” The Ocean honestly didn’t know how she felt about that, considering her history with her.

“Yeah, but she’s actually quite alright once she stops shouting”, Lou grinned, “Got a really wicked sense of humour, too.”

Debbie challengingly raised an eyebrow at that. “You wanna steal that one from your brother too?”

“While it would be fun to see my father’s face at that, the resulting shunning and being exiled from the family is decidedly not worth it.”

“Well, if that’s the only thing stopping you…”, the Ocean pretended to take her hand away in offence but was pulled back with enough force to collide with Lou’s shoulder. Without really thinking about it, she lowered her head to rest it there.

“So”, she disrupted the comfortable silence which had settled in the kiosk, “we’re really giving this a go? You and I?”

Slowly, the blonde shifted her shoulder away from under Debbie’s cheek to place two fingers under her chin and pull her closer for a chaste kiss. While the Ocean was pretty sure this was supposed to be an affirmation, she was still glad to hear Lou’s whispered words against her lips.

“I’m in if you’re in.”

Giddiness and calmness washed over her simultaneously, leaving her feeling like she could float away any second while her feet felt rooted to the spot. In the end, all she could think about were those ocean blue eyes in front of her. Until reality crashed like a wave around her.

For the sake of not completely fucking this up days or weeks or months in, Debbie decided to put something out of the way right then and there. Despite knowing it to be the right thing to do, her heartbeat kicked up a storm when she began to speak, voice uncharacteristically small.

“There’s still a lot of things - really unpleasant and questionable things - you don’t know about me.”

“Like you being infamous con-man Frank Ocean’s daughter?”

“I-- what-- how??” Debbie gaped at her. Had Constance spilled the beans on her in the end?

“I know how to use Google, y’know.”

Meanwhile, Debbie had untangled herself from her and kept staring with wide eyes. The blonde seemed completely unfazed, even dared to cast her a reassuring smile. 

“You’re aware that I’m not only heir to a criminal legacy but got quite the track record myself?” she pointed to the pile of today’s ‘earnings’ next to the counter, “On which I’m still working on by the way?” 

“Boasting now, are we?” Lou laughed before she looked at her with a seriousness which left the Ocean sure that this was the premature end for them. She would’ve never expected what actually followed. 

“Wanna help me set up some, let’s say, side-business inside the club?”

Once Debbie got over the initial shock about her suggestion, she couldn’t help but snort and shake her head. “Now I see where Constance gets that from.”

“What?”

“That criminal energy. And she’s getting really good at it too, pickpocketing seems to come quite naturally to her”, the Ocean shrugged, completely unaware that she might have caused the next Miller family crisis.

“She _ what _ now?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooooo tell me how you liked it and leave a comment! ❤️
> 
> The epilogue will be up before next weekend, see ya then!


	7. The one which is actually an epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “But really, why should we have waited until then? If you wait too long on dreams they’ll just burst like bubbles.”
> 
> The Ocean contemplated her words for a moment. Lou was right enough, she had to admit after all. Since they had decided to be not only partners in love but in crime as well, any day could really be the last one without a massive sentence on their heads. It was exhilarating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOOP THERE IT IS
> 
> So I actually wanted to wait one or two days longer, but then today's the first of Pride AND I talked to my gym crush which makes me feel like an accomplished lesbian for once and then I also finished writing and yeah... posting this final part today is kinda a self-celebration, sue me.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who stuck around through the unplanned hiatus and thanks to everyone who joined in at any other point, every comment and kudos makes my days a bit brighter (and gayer) <3
> 
> This is my last work in this fandom (until they decide to give us Ocean's 9, a girl can dream), so also thanks to everyone who not only read this but all my other fics as well. 
> 
> It's been great fun <3
> 
> Okay, enough mushy rambling, here comes the epilogue (I took the liberty to throw shade at the ending of the movie at some point and I will die on this hill).
> 
> PS: Black Lives Matter.

“You’re still almost bouncing off your seat”, Lou observed, “all because of that stamp in your passport?”

After a long and hot day on their feet, they had found their stop for the evening in a cozy restaurant tucked away snugly in one of Rome’s many side streets. While Debbie had proclaimed to be close to starving, Lou was just happy to get off her feet for a few hours. The cobblestone streets of the city center were hell for her heels, subduing the ache with some good Italian food and wine was just a bonus.

Debbie shot her an affronted look over the table. “Please stop knocking my life’s dreams, thank you. It’ll probably take me a few days until I’ve fully come to grips with being here. I thought we’d save Rome for our honeymoon or something.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Ocean. Your track record with weddings is not that impressive.”

“So is the track record in your family”, she shot back immediately but without any real bite to it.

“Funny how these two actually coincide”, the blonde deadpanned over the rim of her wine glass, “But really, why should we have waited until then? If you wait too long on dreams they’ll just burst like bubbles.”

The Ocean contemplated her words for a moment. Lou was right enough, she had to admit after all. Since they had decided to be not only partners in love but in crime as well, any day could really be the last one without a massive sentence on their heads. It was exhilarating. 

“Well, so now we got your dream of a running club and my dream of visiting Rome… what’s next on the agenda?”

The blonde pretended to open an invisible calendar. “Let’s see. Oh, maybe you could stop corrupting my baby sister.”

The whole topic of Constance had been an ongoing debate since that day in the kiosk when Debbie had blurted it all out without realizing that Lou had absolutely had no idea about what her sister had been doing in her free time. While her girlfriend was keen on keeping the girl out of trouble, her own approach was more along the lines of ‘if she knows what she’s doing, she won’t get into trouble’.

“No chance, I’m not gonna see all that potential go to waste in front of my eyes. Also, corrupting the Miller girls is such a fun past time.”

Lou blew an askew strand of her bangs away, eyebrow raised in a silent challenge. “Oh honey, you didn’t corrupt me, it was  _ I _ who suggested the club’s side business, in case you have forgotten.”

“Maybe I wasn’t talking about that…”, Debbie tried for suggestive and waggled her own eyebrows in return. Unfortunately, it only earned her an amused snort.

“Pah, not in  _ that way _ either!”

With a small pout, the Ocean reluctantly admitted defeat. Time to change the topic. 

“Anyway, while it might be fun to fight about who corrupted whom, I think I probably never thanked you enough for not only accepting my family history and all that comes with it, but also encouraging me to follow down that path and even joining me. I never thought I’d be able to find someone like you.”

At first, Lou was stumped by her sincere words, a lump forming in her throat. Then she remembered that this was Debbie Ocean talking. Though she loved the woman opposite her with her whole life, she knew far too well that her honesty often came with a catch. Thus, she decided to play along and see what would happen.

“Oh honey, is this a proposal?”

“Baby, I don’t have a diamond yet”, came the prompt reply leading to a knowing smirk on both of their faces.

Lou leaned back in her chair, hands folded over her middle. “Smooth. But why do I have the feeling that there’s a hidden emphasis on  _ ‘yet _ ’?”

Just this moment, Debbie noticed the waiter making a beeline for their table with two plates in his hands. “I will tell you more about your feelings after we’ve eaten.”

“Now you just want to placate me with food, hoping that in my post-dinner-bliss I will say yes to whatever you’ve cooked up this time.”

The Ocean batted her eyelashes. “You know me so well, and that’s exactly why we make such an amazing team.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.”

“You love me regardless.”

“Thanks for reminding me about my greatest personal flaw, I almost forgot.”

Playfully, Debbie kicked her under the table for her efforts mere seconds before the waiter set down their food. However, that reminded her of something she had wanted to share with her girlfriend for a while now, but never remembered in their quiet moments together.

“By the way, your brother and I got talking recently, and one thing led to another and he actually asked me when it was that I fell in love with you”, Debbie almost broke off seeing Lou’s incredulous face, “believe me, for a second I was  _ so _ tempted to spin this fantastic story of how we met in a former life and instantly recognized our eternal love the moment we looked into each other’s eyes, or how we went to the same high school and had secret crushes on each other back then, but then I decided nah and just gave him an honest ‘while you were sleeping’.”

The blonde put her glass down, shaking her head for good measure. “It’s a shame you didn’t, really, chances are it would’ve completely gone over his head. God, I’m ashamed to call that witless oaf my brother, how did he even make it through law school with those poor deduction skills? I mean, when else should it have happened?”

“I know, right?”

Both women shook their heads in joint consternation and began digging into their respective food. However it didn’t take too long for the Ocean to speak up again.

“So, there’s this thing I’ve been thinking about for a while now”, Debbie started with her mouth half full, only to be interrupted by the blonde pointing her fork at her plate.

“Didn’t you say after dinner?”

This time, the Ocean had at least the decency to swallow before replying. “I’m taking the liberty in changing my plans as often as it is necessary for the cause.”

“Of course you do. What’s the cause this time then?”

“Right now? Right now I’m just too excited about the whole thing to keep it locked away for even five more minutes.”

“Now that’s what I thought, you were close to bouncing again. Then spill it.”

The change in Debbie’s demeanor was instantaneous. Like a switch had been flipped, she went from giddy joy to cool and collected, the picture of down to business. She was in her element now, the Ocean breaking free and doing what she had always been meant to do: plan and execute the most fantastic heists of all time. 

“Have you ever heard of the Toussaint?”

The way Lou’s face almost went through the five stages of grief to finish in sheer disbelief in the end, she apparently had. “Please tell me you’re not serious.”

“Believe me I am. That’s why I said I don’t have a diamond  _ yet _ .”

“Debbie, no, just… no. This is way out of our league, this will end with us in separate prison cells.”

“It won’t.”

“Debbie…”

“Do you trust me?”

She hated to pull that card, she really did, but seems like it was the only way to get Lou to hear her out, she had to ask. Not to mention the way her heart swelled with love and pride when the blonde nodded without two seconds of hesitation between them.

“So, I want to steal the Toussaint the next time it’s on display, which will be in exactly forty-seven days. And before you say anything more: you know my plans, they always work out.”

In lieu of replying, Lou took a long gulp of her wine, mulling over its taste the same way she mulled over the Ocean’s words. To Debbie’s delight, she could pinpoint the exact moment her girlfriend was giving in.

Still, the woman opposite her gave her a long look before she finally put the glass back down. “And what do we need?”

_ Jackpot. _

More than happy with the development, Debbie casually ticked off her internal record. “Just a fence, a hacker, a pickpocket, a jewelry forger, a designer, and an actress.”

Lou blew out her cheeks at the long list, nevermind that they had never worked with such a big group before - for reasons. The more people, the riskier things got.

Through the steam of their hot pasta she was faced with the cocksure grin of her girlfriend and she couldn’t help but laugh in fond exasperation.

“I don’t need to ask where we find all these people, do I?”

Debbie twirled the spaghetti with her fork and winked at her.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it all planned out.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE END
> 
> Okay, now's the time to leave me that comment you've always been too afraid to write ;)


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